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Things to Do When You're Goth in the Country
Things to Do When You're Goth in the Country | Chavisa Woods
25 posts | 14 read | 66 to read
"Chavisa Woods' Things to Do When You're Goth in the Country is part Flannery O'Connor, part Kelly Link: darkly funny and brilliantly human, urgently fantastical and implacably realistic. This is one of the best short story collections I've read in years, and it should be required reading for anyone who's trying to understand America in 2017." Paul La Farge, author of The Night Ocean (Penguin) Things to Do When You're Goth in the Country (Seven Stories Press, 2017; 200 pages) paints a vivid image of the bizarre characters that live on the fringes in Americas heartland. They don't do what you expect them to do. These aren't typical stories of triumph over adversity, but something completely other. It's "Murakami meets the meth heads" says National Book Foundation award winner Samantha Hunt. "Reader, you have never before seen anything like this." The eight stories in this literary collection present a brilliantly surreal and sardonic landscape and language, and offer a periscope into the heart of the rural poor. Among the singular characters, you'll meet: a zombie who secretly resides in a local cemetery; a queer teen goth who is facing ostracism from her small town evangelical church; a woman who leaves New York City once a year to visit her little brothers in the backwoods Midwest, only to discover theyve been having trouble with some meth dealers and UFOs that trouble the area. In the backdrop of all the stories are the endless American wars and occupations, overshadowed, for these characters, by the many early deaths of their friends and family, that occur regularly for a whole host of reasons.
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vivastory
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From the TBR shelves, a serious contender for best title for a story collection.

KathyWheeler That‘s a great title! 2y
LeahBergen I was just going to say, “what a great title”! 😆 2y
BarbaraBB Promising! 2y
See All 6 Comments
TrishB Sounds cool 👍🏻 2y
Cathythoughts Goth in the country ! Love it 👍❤️ 2y
Reggie Lol, love it! 2y
95 likes2 stack adds6 comments
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SkeletonKey
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Moving on to things I know ALL about: Things To Do When You‘re Goth in the Country. Haha.

I‘m trying to take a break from the library (gasp) in order to devote time to the books I own but haven‘t read. There are A LOT of them.

#shortstories

Yuki_Onna 🤣👍 +1 being goth in the country and the number of unread books I own. Who needs a library when you are on a constant book buying spree? #Tsundoku of the world, unite! 😁😝 2y
SkeletonKey @Yuki_Onna - Yes, exactly!!! Time to sit back and read without due dates and tackle all these neglected books, haha. We‘ll see how long I last. 2y
Yuki_Onna All the best of luck to you! ❤ 2y
31 likes1 stack add3 comments
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SkeletonKey
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An extremely tentative #screamathon stack due to the fact that a bunch of other new book holds just came in at the library and we don‘t have much time together. #bookanxiety

@4thhouseontheleft #toread

alisiakae 😂 😂 😂 4y
30 likes2 comments
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ohyeahthatgirl
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I loved this book and I just found out she's publishing a book in May on sexual assault called 100 Times!! Demon pig and I are very excited.

22 likes1 stack add
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rmaclean4
Pickpick

This short story collection of weird or fabulous fiction was always surprising. At times uncomfortable and and times laugh out loud funny. Some stories flowed better than others, but all for the most part were compelling. I read this at the same times as Her Body and Other Parties. Her Body was more horror while Goth was more surrealist in tone. Well worth a read. 4 🌟

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LectricSheep
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I‘d guess Thing #1 would be to black out all the #windows 😬 #readingresolutions

BookNAround The title is a hoot and definitely makes me want to know more about this one! 6y
rather_be_reading 😂😂 6y
79 likes3 stack adds2 comments
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lauralovesbooks1
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Mehso-so

This short story collection. was a little too out there for me. Writing was decent, just didn't connect with it.

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parasolofdoom
Pickpick

Fabulous collection. A couple had magical realism elements but not all and they touched on so many larger issues while still being deeply personal -- war, faith v organized religion, queerness, drugs, mental illness. The underlying theme was struggle for identity in rural Midwestern settings that often seemed at odds with the characters. Highly recommended.

6 likes1 stack add
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parasolofdoom
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#currentlyreading this fabulous dark collection of short stories featuring often out of place, queer characters in rural settings. I've seen Woods' stories variously described as in the tradition of Kelly Link or Shirley Jackson, either comparison being enough to excite my curiosity. Really enjoying it, I have two stories left.

10 likes1 stack add
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Soundgirl3
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Snakes6atx
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This book is a bit crazy! (Fiona will not sit still for pictures🐶)

Bookzombie Fiona is adorable! 💕🐶 7y
Snakes6atx @Bookzombie Thanks! She is a recent addition to the family and I just love her! 7y
10 likes2 comments
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BookishFeminist
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Starting this book while relaxing at Starbucks for the evening. Can't wait to dig into these short stories! I've been waiting for this to come in at the library for a long time. 💀🖤 #booksnbucks

JPeterson This sounds fantastic! And related to the title only...the other night I dug up some old photos of me in my goth getup (hello, hot topic) and I grew up in the country. 😂☠️🖤 7y
wanderlustforwords I used to wonder what the point was in reading shorts, now I love them! I try to have a book of shorts going while reading other books and I'll read a story here and there. 7y
106 likes7 stack adds2 comments
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Chessa
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Pickpick

It's been like 20 years since I've lived in a small town, and nothing supernatural ever happened there. But despite that, I still found myself nodding at truths about the sometimes desperate living of small towns that was woven into this amazing little collection of short stories. Great stuff, I'll definitely be keeping my eye on this author.

valeriegeary This title! 👏👏👏 7y
ReadingEnvy Loved this one! 7y
41 likes2 stack adds2 comments
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vivastory
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readordierachel 👏👏 Also, the book you tagged sounds amazing! 7y
vivastory @ReadOrDieRachel It's one of my favorite titles for a book published this year 7y
66 likes1 stack add2 comments
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Schlinkles
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I'm not usually a huge fan of short stories but I picked this up at Winter Institute based on the title alone.

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librarypoweruser
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Goth kids in the country get really hot. I know from experience. Rory is relating to this book and my youth hardcore.

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librarypoweruser
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This is my current favorite book title. Started on the bus to work this morning and can't wait until lunch to pick it back up. I can tell I'm going to adore this already. #amreading #greattitle

Christine Ooh good, I have a library copy of this on my shelf! 7y
54 likes2 stack adds1 comment
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CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian
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Pickpick

A stunning collection. Beautifully written with honesty, generosity, insight, inventiveness, and a strong sense of voice. Most of the stories feature queer characters although refreshingly none are focused on queerness. Most of them are set in rural, white, poor America. Baptists over 60 talking sex. Tweens make friends with a homeless woman living in a cemetery mauseleom. A writer returning to her Midwest home to crime and strange phenomena.

OffTheBeatenShelf.com Sold! I need this in my life. 7y
35 likes5 stack adds2 comments
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CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian
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"There is a moment, for every child, when the adults around them...decide that the child's dreams must be obliterated. Adults do this so that they can replace the noble and ridiculous aspirations of children with the ignoble and ridiculous aspirations of grown-ups. They do this because they too, in a moment where they were on the other end of this awful thing they are doing, were taught that only the most ignoble and ugly things are attainable."

CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian "For this reason, disappointment with one's life becomes a much more believable outcome. And, as Americans hate failure, this actually becomes the grudging goal of how one's life should be lived--passing the time with hated tasks, thankful and even possessive of the most basic aspects of survival: family, roof, clothing, food." 7y
batsy Wow. 7y
CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian More great quotes: "But then I thought maybe it wasn't CBGB I missed but being twenty and feeling like I was really doing something drinking with a fake ID. It just doesn't feel the same listening to live rock when you're going to be thirty in a year and your second drink is already making you more tired than drunk and you can't help but worry you're going to feel a little sick and depressed the next day." 7y
40 likes6 stack adds3 comments
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CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian
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Today's #BookMail! (I'm probably gonna need to start saying no to publishers sending me books otherwise I will never have time to read them all). But this title! The silver and black book design! Chavisa Woods is a queer author whose two books I have accumulated this year. They're at the top of my (admittedly very long) TBR. Has anyone read this or her novel The Albino Album? #QueerBooks

shawnmooney You can enjoy the incomparable @ReadingEnvy holding forth on this book on the latest episode of her podcast. 7y
CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian @shawnmooney Ooh, thanks for letting me know! 7y
ReadingEnvy Loved it, especially the first title 7y
31 likes2 stack adds3 comments
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MCYmermaid
CherylDeFranceschi Ooo. Nice and interesting. Thank you for posting. 7y
MCYmermaid Glad to share -- some favorites were on the list! 7y
26 likes2 comments
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ReadingEnvy
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Pickpick

A distinct voice where it's country but also strange things happening. Fun times.

MCYmermaid The trailer for this was intriguing. 7y
ReadingEnvy @MCYmermaid I went and found it after your comment and I think it captures the tone of the book! The narrator is also a lesbian which to me seemed more important than goth at times but the idea of not fitting in is there regardless (alongside the question of would you even want to?) 7y
vivastory Did you see her list of books posted on electric lit a few days ago? It made me immediately run to the library for the Octavia Butler & the Klosterman. 7y
ReadingEnvy @vivastory yes it was an amazing list! 7y
82 likes4 comments
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avalinah
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But will it blend? 🖤💣 😜
#arcs

10 likes2 stack adds
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Liberty
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New favorite title. 🖤📚☠️

mauveandrosysky Oh look a book about me in high school. 7y
ApoptyGina69 Hee Hee! A book about me right now! 7y
Megabooks Added! 7y
142 likes11 stack adds3 comments
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CherylDeFranceschi
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Will I actually read any of these this month? I have to read Ramona Blue for work, but it's Julie Murphy and I'm excited. But I can never really commit to a TBR... I'm so fickle. And easily swayed by other Littens... #MarchTBR #marchintoreading

stargazerblue49 That lamp! 😻😻😻 7y
TobeyTheScavengerMonk I just bought Universal Harvester but then immediately let my brother borrow it because it is so far off on my To Be Read. 7y
Cupofjo I have a tbr pile 8 books high (so far) but can never commit to a monthly list! I'm always adding to the pile and which ever one tickles my fancy at the time I finish the last book is the one I pick!! Lol 7y
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CherylDeFranceschi @Cupofjo That's what I usually do- start with 3-4, read a bit of each and see which one I can't stop reading. 7y
RealLifeReading Easily swayed... that's me exactly! 7y
Arcana Is that Pusheen? ❤❤❤ 7y
CherylDeFranceschi @Arcana It does look like Pusheen. But I don't think it is. 7y
Hobbinol The very same here... again🙂 7y
93 likes1 stack add9 comments