My favorite stories are clustered right in the middle: “What A Piece of Work,” “Parable Lost,” “What Would Sam Spade Do?” But the first story is where the heroine has the line that makes me laugh, clap, and cheer:
“Love? Well now. You feel what you feel, and I feel what I feel, but that doesn’t mean you have to fit us into a story and wreck both our lives.”
Yes! Finally she gets it! That’s the line in the fairy tale I always wanted to read.
As for the rest, I think what’s worth the price of admission is the forward by Jo, explaining the reason this collection exists. She was bad at short stories; she wanted to get better at short stories. The fact that somebody brilliant with novels struggles with shorter stories is refreshing all on its own. I struggle with the opposite, and I like the reminder that we all have our strengths and can work at the rest.