Rating: 4 of 5
Synopsis: “In a spine-tingling new collection, the “unique” (NPR) and “wickedly funny” (New York Times) Helen Phillips offers an idiosyncratic series of “what-ifs” about our fragile human condition…What if your perfect hermaphrodite match existed on another planet? What if you could suddenly see through everybody’s skin to their organs? What if you knew the exact date of your death? What if your city was filled with doppelgängers of you?” (source)
My thoughts: Helen Phillips explored these and other scenarios in the sometimes downright bizarre stories of this collection. Some Possible Solutions was my first time reading anything by Phillips and I was blown away by the techniques and language she used to tell her stories. I loved how pure imagination streamed through each one yet each felt like it was set in a real world, totally possible, that it could be ours at any moment, now or in the future.
My favorite story: “One of Us Will Be Happy; It’s Just a Matter of Which One.”
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(Review cross-posted on LibraryThing and Goodreads.)
Received ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.