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Because I Don't Know What You Mean and What You Don't
From a comic mastermind comes this brilliant collection of stories.
Three teenagers believe they are witches. A woman defaces a local billboard. A bored landlord tries to influence his son's best friend. A cul-de-sac WhatsApp group discusses eggs at length. A heavily pregnant woman finds a way to time travel and a girl discovers joy on a stolen bicycle...
Each tale paints a life in miniature and offers an escape chute from the catastrophes of modern life.
Three teenagers believe they are witches. A woman defaces a local billboard. A bored landlord tries to influence his son's best friend. A cul-de-sac WhatsApp group discusses eggs at length. A heavily pregnant woman finds a way to time travel and a girl discovers joy on a stolen bicycle...
Each tale paints a life in miniature and offers an escape chute from the catastrophes of modern life.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 2023
54 people are currently reading
1049 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 82 reviews
February 17, 2024
The author, Josie Long, is an award-winning British comedian who was unfamiliar to me. I regret that short stories rarely appeal to me. I was expecting a humourous book, whereas this consisted of sixteen sensitively written short stories. I skipped around in the order presented but failed to finish many. It was a case of 'I don't know what you mean and what you don't.'
The tales were dark, unsettling slices of life. They were well-written but lacked the humourous flair I expected. They were narrated through the rambling, emotional narratives and viewpoints of the characters involved. They were a heartfelt, uncomfortable look at unsettling aspects of life, such as doubts, insecurities, low self-esteem, anxiety, anger, class and politics. They include social commentary with themes of confusion, frustration and relationships. I felt some stories could be expanded into short novels while others were forgettable.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review. It is recommended for readers who enjoy dark, emotional short stories and for fans of Josie Long. Publication is due on February 13th. 2.5 Stars.
The tales were dark, unsettling slices of life. They were well-written but lacked the humourous flair I expected. They were narrated through the rambling, emotional narratives and viewpoints of the characters involved. They were a heartfelt, uncomfortable look at unsettling aspects of life, such as doubts, insecurities, low self-esteem, anxiety, anger, class and politics. They include social commentary with themes of confusion, frustration and relationships. I felt some stories could be expanded into short novels while others were forgettable.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review. It is recommended for readers who enjoy dark, emotional short stories and for fans of Josie Long. Publication is due on February 13th. 2.5 Stars.
unfinished
July 27, 2024A free signed copy – and, if I’m honest, a cover reminiscent of Ned Beauman’s Glow – induced me to try an author I’d never heard of. She’s a stand-up comic, apparently, not that you’d know it from these utterly boring, one-note stories about unhappy adolescents and mums on London council estates. I read 108 pages but could barely tell you what a single story was about. Long is decent at voices, but you need compelling stories to house them.
Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.
Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.
August 22, 2023
I've been a Josie Long fan for years, and when I learned that her first book was going to be a collection of short stories, rather than a my-life-in-twelve-lessons-memoir-polemic (as we've seen from so many comedians over the last decade or so), it felt so right: Long's work on Book Shambles and Short Cuts, alongside the Radio 4 plays and micro-budget films she's made, feel suited to this genre, and certainly influenced by it.
This collection manages to retain Long's spirit while also showing another side to her - it's sadder, slower, angrier, and at times more futile than her stand-up persona, which even in its darkest places has always carried the charm of hope and the potential for joy. But it's also a pure encapsulation of her politics: at heart it's a book of frustration about the social inequalities and environmental catastrophes of late capitalism, and how these play out in our intimate lives, shading our sexual, personal or familial relations.
Overall, I enjoyed this book; three or four stories are fantastic and stand shoulder to shoulder with stories by other young British writers of short fiction I'd expect to find in, say, Granta or The Stinging Fly. These are the stories where Long fully explores the characters' world and teases its complexities out, giving the protagonist and the reader moments of epiphany. '2020, 20/21', the collection's standout story for me, follows the survivor of an abusive relationship after her abuser moves into her neighbourhood almost two decades later. It builds the details and tensions horrifyingly, and the way Long explores the narrator's old confusion and her new clarity on it - raising the stakes as she and her partner work out how to behave when this man appears physically in her presence - is masterful.
In other ways, though, you can tell that Long is a very experienced writer in other genres (her dialogue is natural and revealing, her character dynamics defined and specific) but is less practised at the short story. There are pieces that feel sketchy and underdeveloped, and a few thin supporting characters (the yapping friend in 'Volunteering' especially) that seem like straw men for the story's purpose. There's also Long's occasional glitch where the story explains itself to the reader, the way a radio essay or stand-up routine might make its message explicit - in a couple of the stories here it feels heavy-handed (not least because some of the stories have italicised sections at the end explaining the sources and quotes the ideas come from. I don't mind these being included but I thought they could come in the acknowledgements at the end.)
At times it also takes Long a while to work out what she's really doing with a story - a character or a situation will only appear in the second half or final third, at which point things will gather momentum and take on meaning and resonance. It gives the story an unwieldy shape, as if another draft, once she'd worked out what matters, could have clarified things and set them up better. There are also times you want Long to imbue important moments with more detail, and slow the pace, so the reader can really feel what's being portrayed. 'We Decided to Leave London', for example, hinges in part on a woman's epiphany while watching a fox at night, but it's over too soon, written without the linguistic charge that would have set it apart from the story's less important observational details; 'Poets Rise' has a fantastic, George Saunders-ish conceit (a woman works at a sort of digital spy cops agency, where left-wing people earmarked as 'potential subversives' have their phones hacked and their lives messed with, to break their spirit before they can escalate into activism) but its elements feel like they have more potential than the story gives them, in terms of world-building and in putting the narrator's own life up against her job and the life of the man she's tracking.
One mixed blessing is the strong influence of Raymond Carver, most clearly in the deliberately unwieldy title of the collection and the echo of 'A Small Good Thing' in Long's 'A Little Dirty Thing'. Like Carver, Long is brilliant at writing her characters' interactions with the humdrum material world around them: its everyday objects; grubbiness, wear and tear; the existential despair that, for most of us, these are the only tools we have to excavate life's meanings. But over sixteen stories I wanted her to break away from the minimalist Carver style, and hoped for more variety of tone. It's almost all first person present tense, with some stories written to a 'you' or with the love interest slipping between 'he' and 'you' as mood requires; I thought there were stories that Long could have toyed with a little and tried in third person and/or past tense, just to challenge herself and see where they took her.
This feels harsh now I've written it all down. And I expect a lot of readers will come to this for Long's voice and viewpoint, and will be more than satisfied. Certainly it's more ambitious, unique and fulfilling than many books written by public figures or entertainers. The best stories absolutely succeed on their own terms; others show potential; a handful, I think, could have been reworked or developed or even put aside to allow the collection to better display its strengths.
This collection manages to retain Long's spirit while also showing another side to her - it's sadder, slower, angrier, and at times more futile than her stand-up persona, which even in its darkest places has always carried the charm of hope and the potential for joy. But it's also a pure encapsulation of her politics: at heart it's a book of frustration about the social inequalities and environmental catastrophes of late capitalism, and how these play out in our intimate lives, shading our sexual, personal or familial relations.
Overall, I enjoyed this book; three or four stories are fantastic and stand shoulder to shoulder with stories by other young British writers of short fiction I'd expect to find in, say, Granta or The Stinging Fly. These are the stories where Long fully explores the characters' world and teases its complexities out, giving the protagonist and the reader moments of epiphany. '2020, 20/21', the collection's standout story for me, follows the survivor of an abusive relationship after her abuser moves into her neighbourhood almost two decades later. It builds the details and tensions horrifyingly, and the way Long explores the narrator's old confusion and her new clarity on it - raising the stakes as she and her partner work out how to behave when this man appears physically in her presence - is masterful.
In other ways, though, you can tell that Long is a very experienced writer in other genres (her dialogue is natural and revealing, her character dynamics defined and specific) but is less practised at the short story. There are pieces that feel sketchy and underdeveloped, and a few thin supporting characters (the yapping friend in 'Volunteering' especially) that seem like straw men for the story's purpose. There's also Long's occasional glitch where the story explains itself to the reader, the way a radio essay or stand-up routine might make its message explicit - in a couple of the stories here it feels heavy-handed (not least because some of the stories have italicised sections at the end explaining the sources and quotes the ideas come from. I don't mind these being included but I thought they could come in the acknowledgements at the end.)
At times it also takes Long a while to work out what she's really doing with a story - a character or a situation will only appear in the second half or final third, at which point things will gather momentum and take on meaning and resonance. It gives the story an unwieldy shape, as if another draft, once she'd worked out what matters, could have clarified things and set them up better. There are also times you want Long to imbue important moments with more detail, and slow the pace, so the reader can really feel what's being portrayed. 'We Decided to Leave London', for example, hinges in part on a woman's epiphany while watching a fox at night, but it's over too soon, written without the linguistic charge that would have set it apart from the story's less important observational details; 'Poets Rise' has a fantastic, George Saunders-ish conceit (a woman works at a sort of digital spy cops agency, where left-wing people earmarked as 'potential subversives' have their phones hacked and their lives messed with, to break their spirit before they can escalate into activism) but its elements feel like they have more potential than the story gives them, in terms of world-building and in putting the narrator's own life up against her job and the life of the man she's tracking.
One mixed blessing is the strong influence of Raymond Carver, most clearly in the deliberately unwieldy title of the collection and the echo of 'A Small Good Thing' in Long's 'A Little Dirty Thing'. Like Carver, Long is brilliant at writing her characters' interactions with the humdrum material world around them: its everyday objects; grubbiness, wear and tear; the existential despair that, for most of us, these are the only tools we have to excavate life's meanings. But over sixteen stories I wanted her to break away from the minimalist Carver style, and hoped for more variety of tone. It's almost all first person present tense, with some stories written to a 'you' or with the love interest slipping between 'he' and 'you' as mood requires; I thought there were stories that Long could have toyed with a little and tried in third person and/or past tense, just to challenge herself and see where they took her.
This feels harsh now I've written it all down. And I expect a lot of readers will come to this for Long's voice and viewpoint, and will be more than satisfied. Certainly it's more ambitious, unique and fulfilling than many books written by public figures or entertainers. The best stories absolutely succeed on their own terms; others show potential; a handful, I think, could have been reworked or developed or even put aside to allow the collection to better display its strengths.
May 19, 2023
This is an engaging and complex set of short stories, all from a first person perspective. Each story is from the point of view of a character whose distinct flaws or insecurities are explored through the interactions with other characters and their own internal monologue. There is a ‘stream of consciousness’ style to many of the stories (somewhat reminiscent of Max Porter’s books) which allowed me to feel like I was inhabiting that character - travelling along inside their head for a short time.
I sometimes had a little difficulty with the first person perspective - it wasn’t always clear the gender of the narrator, and the lack of third-person exposition meant that sometimes relationships between people weren’t clear to me. Also, this is not an uplifting book - some of the themes are a little dark, and many of the stories deal with insecurity at some level. However, these minor issues aside, I found the character explorations very satisfying, and enjoyed each one.
The story “Poets Rise Again” stood out as the most enjoyable for me. I would love to see the ideas and characters in this story expanded into a novel in their own right - I was fascinated by what their back-story was, and would have enjoyed a longer, more satisfying narrative arc than the short story form allows.
Thank you #NetGalley and Canongate Books for the free review copy of #BecauseIdontknow in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
I sometimes had a little difficulty with the first person perspective - it wasn’t always clear the gender of the narrator, and the lack of third-person exposition meant that sometimes relationships between people weren’t clear to me. Also, this is not an uplifting book - some of the themes are a little dark, and many of the stories deal with insecurity at some level. However, these minor issues aside, I found the character explorations very satisfying, and enjoyed each one.
The story “Poets Rise Again” stood out as the most enjoyable for me. I would love to see the ideas and characters in this story expanded into a novel in their own right - I was fascinated by what their back-story was, and would have enjoyed a longer, more satisfying narrative arc than the short story form allows.
Thank you #NetGalley and Canongate Books for the free review copy of #BecauseIdontknow in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
June 10, 2023
Reflections and lessons learned/the content of this book made me feel…
“Joking to myself doesn’t make it easier. My mom used to say ‘you’ve got to laugh, or you’d cry!’, but you don’t have to do either. I’ve found you can just sit, kind of catatonic, frozen in despair. ‘You’ve got to sit, and then further sit’ - that’s what it should say. That amuses me”
I’m not a hardcore fan, but I’ve often enjoyed the comedy work of Long, and really enjoyed Bookshambles, so this was an interesting concept. The short stories cover a wonderful span of types of people and situations, and all feel real, both for the good, bad and cringeworthy! Are they more character studies than stories? That doesn’t matter though. Like overhearing excerpts from relatable people’s lives in a cafe, this was a pleasure to listen to - maybe a bit of a council estate Bennet Talking Heads for the next generation, and better?! (bloody Routledge…)
“Joking to myself doesn’t make it easier. My mom used to say ‘you’ve got to laugh, or you’d cry!’, but you don’t have to do either. I’ve found you can just sit, kind of catatonic, frozen in despair. ‘You’ve got to sit, and then further sit’ - that’s what it should say. That amuses me”
I’m not a hardcore fan, but I’ve often enjoyed the comedy work of Long, and really enjoyed Bookshambles, so this was an interesting concept. The short stories cover a wonderful span of types of people and situations, and all feel real, both for the good, bad and cringeworthy! Are they more character studies than stories? That doesn’t matter though. Like overhearing excerpts from relatable people’s lives in a cafe, this was a pleasure to listen to - maybe a bit of a council estate Bennet Talking Heads for the next generation, and better?! (bloody Routledge…)
December 26, 2024
God I really need to read a book I love, the last few have been rather bleak.
The acknowledgments for this book ended “Thank you to every landlord, misogynist, prick and Tory who inspired the villains. One day we will win and you will love it and it will be very nice indeed”, and the usual niceness of Josie Long paired with the definite anger and cynicism in many of these stories was certainly my favourite feature.
Some of the stories were cracking. Long is witty and funny but also biting and honest and her observations are spot-on.
Some were significantly weaker than others, and admittedly they began to feel quite samey as time went on. An interesting collection, I like her writing style and would read a novel if she wrote one, but only one or two stories really stuck out of this set.
The acknowledgments for this book ended “Thank you to every landlord, misogynist, prick and Tory who inspired the villains. One day we will win and you will love it and it will be very nice indeed”, and the usual niceness of Josie Long paired with the definite anger and cynicism in many of these stories was certainly my favourite feature.
Some of the stories were cracking. Long is witty and funny but also biting and honest and her observations are spot-on.
Some were significantly weaker than others, and admittedly they began to feel quite samey as time went on. An interesting collection, I like her writing style and would read a novel if she wrote one, but only one or two stories really stuck out of this set.
January 21, 2025
A nice collection of short stories, which range from the sardonic to the heart wrenching, frequently within the same story. Competently written, but not enough to justify the encomiums lavished on the dust jackets by her fellow British standup comedians.
July 26, 2023
I absolutely ADORED this book. Slices of life serving up the perfect mixture of introspection, mundanity, confusion, frustration. I loved the little glimpses and vignettes into different worlds and different lives, but if anything the common theme seemed to be a huge underlying anxiety. My favourite was of course the final story - although possibly slightly biased after seeing Josie Long's latest stand-up show that basically includes most of the story.
If I did have one criticism it would be that I often struggled to differentiate the character voices from Josie's own voice, but given that I love her that really wasn't too much of a struggle for me.
I ended up having to ration myself out with the stories, to give each one a bit of breathing room and space to percolate in my head, because given the short story form it was easy for some of the ideas to just dissipate immediately after reading. But once I got to the end, I found myself wanting to immediately dive back in again. I really hope this isn't the end of Josie Long's writing career and that there's more where this came from!
If I did have one criticism it would be that I often struggled to differentiate the character voices from Josie's own voice, but given that I love her that really wasn't too much of a struggle for me.
I ended up having to ration myself out with the stories, to give each one a bit of breathing room and space to percolate in my head, because given the short story form it was easy for some of the ideas to just dissipate immediately after reading. But once I got to the end, I found myself wanting to immediately dive back in again. I really hope this isn't the end of Josie Long's writing career and that there's more where this came from!
April 10, 2023
I received a free copy from Netgalley for an honest review.
Despite Long being a well-known comedian this collection of short stories are anything but 'funny', in fact they are all somewhat disturbing in nature. It seem all of the stories have similar themes: anxiety, pettiness, obsequious and obsession - unwanted but unresolved characters in human nature - are all heavily present in each story.
All the stories spotlight flawed parts of ourselves and that explicitly means that they are entirely relatable. Everyone has experienced loss, unrequited love, a bully, and more importantly their own internal doubt - perhaps not in excess as the poor characters involved in Long's short stories.
Long showcases these heightened feelings almost to an extreme point, and while they can be exciting, deranged and cringey to read about, you do have to ask yourself - What would happen if we did let the intrusive thoughts win?
Despite Long being a well-known comedian this collection of short stories are anything but 'funny', in fact they are all somewhat disturbing in nature. It seem all of the stories have similar themes: anxiety, pettiness, obsequious and obsession - unwanted but unresolved characters in human nature - are all heavily present in each story.
All the stories spotlight flawed parts of ourselves and that explicitly means that they are entirely relatable. Everyone has experienced loss, unrequited love, a bully, and more importantly their own internal doubt - perhaps not in excess as the poor characters involved in Long's short stories.
Long showcases these heightened feelings almost to an extreme point, and while they can be exciting, deranged and cringey to read about, you do have to ask yourself - What would happen if we did let the intrusive thoughts win?
November 14, 2024
Interesting collection of short stories touching on all sorts of different aspects of human nature. I think these stories are successful in giving you a window into a familiar feeling. I felt like I’d been one or many of these characters at different points in time, but I wasn’t. Not really. It’s all just the collective human experience. When I was little I remember really thinking I could be magic if I believed hard enough. When a guy I liked slept with me and then never called me back I acted a little “crazy”. I have a friend that literally will only talk about herself and ask me ONE question, maybe, when we talk. Sound familiar? If the answer is yes, there’s a reason for that!
Anyway, not all stories connected with me in this way (there’s a fair bit of motherhood and parenting stories) but they still managed to make an impression on me.
The writing style is a bit of a whirlwind (it just goes and doesn’t stop!), but if you don’t mind that you’ll enjoy the book.
3.5 :)
Anyway, not all stories connected with me in this way (there’s a fair bit of motherhood and parenting stories) but they still managed to make an impression on me.
The writing style is a bit of a whirlwind (it just goes and doesn’t stop!), but if you don’t mind that you’ll enjoy the book.
3.5 :)
April 8, 2025
I've enjoyed Josie Long's comedy for a while now, and as a fellow graduate of Lady Margaret Hall she's about the only other graduate of whom I feel especially proud.* It's always a little strange when a person known for their stand-up comedy writes something that's not comic. I saw Fern Brady's memoir in the 'comedy' section of a book store, which is a misleading place for it. It's a presumption that someone who has made their living from being funny will always be aiming to be funny. I don't think Long's comic persona comes across in this book until the last ten pages of acknowledgements etc.
That's that Because I Don't Know What You Mean and What You Don't isn't. It is a series of often quite short stories that show often very brief glimpses of a character, usually trapped by social circumstances, somehow. Many are a kind of dystopia, but it is one that is close to reality than we might want to admit. Others are fever dreams, about pregnancy or parenthood and the fears it engenders in us. One is a particularly brutal account of the retraumatising effect of an abusive ex-boyfriend moving into your community. My favourite is probably 'The Patron Saint of Lost Causes', which describes a group of people who bought an old monastery and converted it into a farm to escape an increasingly totalitarian society. A few are perhaps too brief to work, several are effective gut-punches, and the whole is something personal that is also political.
* Malala feels like cheating, as she was a pretty significant person before she even matriculated.
That's that Because I Don't Know What You Mean and What You Don't isn't. It is a series of often quite short stories that show often very brief glimpses of a character, usually trapped by social circumstances, somehow. Many are a kind of dystopia, but it is one that is close to reality than we might want to admit. Others are fever dreams, about pregnancy or parenthood and the fears it engenders in us. One is a particularly brutal account of the retraumatising effect of an abusive ex-boyfriend moving into your community. My favourite is probably 'The Patron Saint of Lost Causes', which describes a group of people who bought an old monastery and converted it into a farm to escape an increasingly totalitarian society. A few are perhaps too brief to work, several are effective gut-punches, and the whole is something personal that is also political.
* Malala feels like cheating, as she was a pretty significant person before she even matriculated.
December 4, 2023
This collection was aptly titled, because there were quite a few occasions when I wasn't at all sure what the author meant and what she didn't. That's not a criticism, though. Josie Long is a very good writer and these are very good short stories, which deserve to be read with care, delicately skewering aspects of modern life, relationships, hypocrisies and insecurities. The last story, in particular, felt very personal as the narrator reflects on bringing children into the world as it is today.
These are probably best not read all together, as I did, as at times I forgot which story I was reading. Standouts - in the sense that I remember them most - are the story in which a woman's abusive former partner moves nearby with his new wife and child; the young boy torn between two sides of his family; the two stories Poets Rise and Poets Rise Again, which can't really be adequately described and need to be read. The "neighbourhood pandemic WhatsApp group" story is memorably odd - at first I thought I was reading about a future egg-shortage dystopia, because who goes on that much about a single egg?
All in all an engaging, sensitively written collection of stories which centre the female experience amid the horrors - but also joys - of modern life. I'll definitely go back and reread some of these more slowly.
These are probably best not read all together, as I did, as at times I forgot which story I was reading. Standouts - in the sense that I remember them most - are the story in which a woman's abusive former partner moves nearby with his new wife and child; the young boy torn between two sides of his family; the two stories Poets Rise and Poets Rise Again, which can't really be adequately described and need to be read. The "neighbourhood pandemic WhatsApp group" story is memorably odd - at first I thought I was reading about a future egg-shortage dystopia, because who goes on that much about a single egg?
All in all an engaging, sensitively written collection of stories which centre the female experience amid the horrors - but also joys - of modern life. I'll definitely go back and reread some of these more slowly.
January 18, 2024
This short story collections was a diverse and intricate look into different individual's minds. It was very provocative and unnerving at times how the one's presentation is manipulation or a defense mechanism and how one's thoughts do not equal what they expose to the world. The intimacy of the inner dialogue throughout each story was very interesting and how it was written gave the feeling that you were really seeing something you weren't supposed to. Like with most collection there were some stories that I enjoyed more than others but as a whole I really enjoyed and was captivated by this one.
Highly recommend reading. It will definitely make you think.
Highly recommend reading. It will definitely make you think.
January 29, 2025
I really love Josie Long and I wanted to really love this too. Each of the short stories is well written but the style was the same throughout, so it felt like everything was happening to the same person (only a couple of stories stood out with a different voice)
Maybe 3*s is a little too harsh. I’d read another book by Josie Long but not this one again.
Maybe 3*s is a little too harsh. I’d read another book by Josie Long but not this one again.
April 7, 2024
Beautifully written with son excellent human observations. Long especially captures the feelings of being a teenage girl and the difficulty of traditional age barriers. Sometime funny, sometimes sad, always thought provoking. I loved these stories.
January 25, 2024
funny, great acknowledgements obsessed with the Tory slander! the only thing I would say is it was a bit tricky to distinguish stories but still a good time!
November 1, 2024
het verhaaltje over de vrouw die de man die haar misbruikt heeft jaren later tegen komt raakte me wel
maar de rest van de verhaaltjes waren beetje meh imo
denk dat ik geen short story girly ben :(
maar de rest van de verhaaltjes waren beetje meh imo
denk dat ik geen short story girly ben :(
October 30, 2024
I loved every page of this, including the ones that weren't short stories. Became very quickly apparent that these weren't going to be funny, they were beautiful though.
October 9, 2024
Funny, unsettling, insightful. You should read this.
June 24, 2025
"People want to keep saying how we are all so much stronger than we know, so much more resilient than we realise. No. It's the opposite. We are all so much more fragile than we realise. We can't unseen anything. It takes so little to completely break us and throw us off course. If we knew how little we could actually bear, we would be so much gentler with each other, with the world."
Hinter diesem Buch mit dem ungewöhnlichen Titel verbiegt sich eine Kurzgeschichtensammlung von der Preisgekrönten Comedian Josie Long. Den Geschichten habe ich allerdings nicht unbedingt angemerkt, dass sie eine Comedian ist - zwar waren manche vereinzelt lustig oder hatten zumindest lustige Elemente, die meisten zeigten sich jedoch sensibel. Bei manchen fehlten mir schlicht Höhen und Tiefen, was bei Kurzgeschichten sicherlich auch schwierig umzusetzen ist.
Es geht um vernachlässigte Teenager, um überforderte Mütter, vereinsamte Nachbar*innen und generell oft um zwischenmenschliche Beziehungen mit all ihren Schwierigkeiten und unterschiedlichen Bedürfnissen.
Auch, wenn ich alle Geschichten gelesen und mich zum Großteil gut unterhalten gefühlt habe, war das Buch leider kein Highlight und hat bei mir nicht das Bedürfnis geweckt, unbedingt mehr von der Autorin lesen zu wollen. Einzelne Texte, die mir besonders gefallen haben, konnten das nicht rumreißen. Wer Kurzgeschichten grundsätzlich mag, wird damit aber keinen Fehlkauf landen.
CN: Selbstv3rletz3ndes Verhalten, Alk0hol, Dr0gen, G3walt
Hinter diesem Buch mit dem ungewöhnlichen Titel verbiegt sich eine Kurzgeschichtensammlung von der Preisgekrönten Comedian Josie Long. Den Geschichten habe ich allerdings nicht unbedingt angemerkt, dass sie eine Comedian ist - zwar waren manche vereinzelt lustig oder hatten zumindest lustige Elemente, die meisten zeigten sich jedoch sensibel. Bei manchen fehlten mir schlicht Höhen und Tiefen, was bei Kurzgeschichten sicherlich auch schwierig umzusetzen ist.
Es geht um vernachlässigte Teenager, um überforderte Mütter, vereinsamte Nachbar*innen und generell oft um zwischenmenschliche Beziehungen mit all ihren Schwierigkeiten und unterschiedlichen Bedürfnissen.
Auch, wenn ich alle Geschichten gelesen und mich zum Großteil gut unterhalten gefühlt habe, war das Buch leider kein Highlight und hat bei mir nicht das Bedürfnis geweckt, unbedingt mehr von der Autorin lesen zu wollen. Einzelne Texte, die mir besonders gefallen haben, konnten das nicht rumreißen. Wer Kurzgeschichten grundsätzlich mag, wird damit aber keinen Fehlkauf landen.
CN: Selbstv3rletz3ndes Verhalten, Alk0hol, Dr0gen, G3walt
May 16, 2023
This is a collection of short stories and is a very quick read, basically a snapshot of different lives.
I struggled with this - some of the stories were just perfect, such as the story of the women on an estate in lockdown and the story of the grandpa trying to compensate for a relationship between a son and his father. Others were quite hard to follow and just as you were getting into the swing of the story, it finished. There is an overarching theme of female anxiety, especially felt in the story where the young woman meets up with her ex-boyfriend, but I didn’t relate to the majority of the characters.
I struggled with this - some of the stories were just perfect, such as the story of the women on an estate in lockdown and the story of the grandpa trying to compensate for a relationship between a son and his father. Others were quite hard to follow and just as you were getting into the swing of the story, it finished. There is an overarching theme of female anxiety, especially felt in the story where the young woman meets up with her ex-boyfriend, but I didn’t relate to the majority of the characters.
March 20, 2023
Josie Long is a comedian I very much admire and here I have learned that she is a writer of short stories that are also worthy of great admiration. These are neat parcels of complex lives in which you get a strong sense of character and a fine interplay of emotion and purpose. There is a skill to creating a rich world in a few short pages and Long absolutely has it. These are not funny. Some of them are downright upsetting and they all address uncomfortable issues with style, tension and resolve.
May 26, 2023
I enjoy Josie Long’s socialist comedy and her soft voice presenting the Radio 4 series Short Cuts, so I was looking forward to seeing what her first short story collection would be like. The stories were mainly the soft thought provoking type, with a lot of interiority and reflection, not too much on the comic front.
A recommended read for those who like thoughtful woman-based stories.
A recommended read for those who like thoughtful woman-based stories.
April 21, 2024
DNF at story 11 - maybe 1 or 2 stories that I enjoyed but I just felt like I was forcing myself to get through short stories that weren’t even good
July 9, 2023
My thoughts about this collection varied. No, it's nowhere near as fine as Josie's personality and stand-up. But no, it's not Bridget Christie, so we can all be thankful. It feels a slightly similar world, mind – a very left-wing response to humdrum work, where you seem to commute ninety minutes to attack people online, only to return to a shitty rental place with no outside world or community (beyond perhaps an in-light-of-covid whatzap group). Or you're the thinks-herself-chubby-and-ugly girl wanting to get in with the cool-but-very-flawed crowd at school, or you're suffering because a guy at a party can't keep it in your trousers, or someone from your past moves in to the neighbourhood, with his current and you have a hard time over you being his ex still, or someone from your past ends up on a nearby billboard you see daily.
All told, much of this is reasonably readable (thanks, Lady Margaret, Oxford) but at the same time some stories just seemed to be taking me nowhere other than the skip button. The second tense is over-used, for sure – and if you didn't see that in my first paragraph then worry not, it's slathered over this like dodgy liquids on a stag night. In the finish your response is probably down to how you see the left wing – the leftie complaint about men, modern housing, men, the parole service, men, housing, housing for people who aren't men – you get the drift. Best surely is the piece regarding a charged attack on the upper middle classes, from two young women determined to get their slice. Reading like someone American wrote it, it's very Sofia Coppola – but better.
The book closes with the hopeful optimism of a young mother, demanding of the world her children are being brought up in that it be a good one, by their rules. It's very harsh to say this is a book only its mother could love, but much like children it was something that I really could take or leave – and at least hand back when called for.
All told, much of this is reasonably readable (thanks, Lady Margaret, Oxford) but at the same time some stories just seemed to be taking me nowhere other than the skip button. The second tense is over-used, for sure – and if you didn't see that in my first paragraph then worry not, it's slathered over this like dodgy liquids on a stag night. In the finish your response is probably down to how you see the left wing – the leftie complaint about men, modern housing, men, the parole service, men, housing, housing for people who aren't men – you get the drift. Best surely is the piece regarding a charged attack on the upper middle classes, from two young women determined to get their slice. Reading like someone American wrote it, it's very Sofia Coppola – but better.
The book closes with the hopeful optimism of a young mother, demanding of the world her children are being brought up in that it be a good one, by their rules. It's very harsh to say this is a book only its mother could love, but much like children it was something that I really could take or leave – and at least hand back when called for.
December 8, 2023
I found this short story collection (of sixteen) to be just alright and wouldn’t really recommend it on the whole. I hadn’t heard about the author (and stand up comedian) Josie Long before seeing this as an audiobook on BorrowBox, it sounded interesting so thought I’d give it a go. There’s some stories that were decently curated and I get the sense Long is trying to put forward her personal views in some way in them but really most fell flat. My favourite was 2021, 2021 but thinking back and writing this review three weeks later I can’t really remember exactly, all I know is it follows the survivor of an abusive relationship and I believe she comes into contact with her ex (the abuser) and how it was quite tense. On the other end, cold and brazen was by far my least favourite which follows a middle aged dad who wants to get in with the younger generation but is a creep and just ugh I didn’t care for him nor the story in the slightest. The last story, I don’t know was also not too bad but again I don’t know (hehe see what I did there) why?? There’s also recurring mentions of drug use in a number of the stories which I personally don’t like reading about. The writing and Long’s craft does leave a little to be desired with some more editing having been beneficial. Anywho… I don’t think I’ll be reading any more by this author but it was good to check her out.
Individual ratings:
A good day - 3
We decided to leave London - 2.5
A little dirty thing - 2.5
Forgetting - 3.25
Dallas - 2.5
Poets rise - 3
2021, 2021 - 4
Cold and brazen - 1.25
Just an informal chat - 2.5
Volunteering - 2.5
What you could’ve done - 2.75
Poets rise again - 2.75
Between - 2.75
A photo taken at a small town museum - 2.75
The patron saint of lost causes - 2.75
I don’t know - 3.75
Average rating - 2.78
Individual ratings:
A good day - 3
We decided to leave London - 2.5
A little dirty thing - 2.5
Forgetting - 3.25
Dallas - 2.5
Poets rise - 3
2021, 2021 - 4
Cold and brazen - 1.25
Just an informal chat - 2.5
Volunteering - 2.5
What you could’ve done - 2.75
Poets rise again - 2.75
Between - 2.75
A photo taken at a small town museum - 2.75
The patron saint of lost causes - 2.75
I don’t know - 3.75
Average rating - 2.78
Read
March 28, 2023I've never entirely bought into the stereotype of Josie Long as relentlessly chirpy, not least because of that incident where she threw popcorn at me after a disagreement on which Joanna Newsom album was best. But all the same, and perhaps despite that cover, I was expecting a collection of her short stories to be, broadly speaking, cheerful. Which this really, really isn't. The first three pieces follow a schoolgirl who hates her body and her family, talking up her occult powers to get in with the cool kids; the poisonous inanity of a neighbourhood WhatsApp group during lockdown; and a woman bringing her new partner to a party where everyone else seems to have their lives much more together, "Salads on the table like nothing I've ever made myself. Peaches and goats' cheese and shredded mint. Fried carrots with flower petals. For fuck's sake." As that passage suggests, it certainly has the keen eye you'd expect from an acclaimed stand-up (see also: the women's partners all being "The type of thirty-eight-year-olds who run a techno label"), but laughs are in short supply. Instead, the dominant note is very much anxiety – specifically female anxiety, but most of it entirely recognisable to anyone who has ever felt they don't belong, which surely covers most people who are likely to be reading a debut short story collection. And indeed, occasional point-of-view characters are male, like the schoolboy whose determinedly no-nonsense, TED talk-listening dad is cutting him off from the artier, less dreadful side of his family. By the last two stories, set after and then back during the current collapse, I really could have gone for something jolly.
(Netgalley ARC)
(Netgalley ARC)
August 21, 2023
This is a collection of sixteen short stories that focus very intensely on various human experiences. From the horror of a neighbourhood WhatsApp group, to a young man carrying the weight of parental expectations; to the trauma of an old relationship coming back to haunt you, and the terror of infatuation. Gaslighting, coercive relationships, social media, one-sided friendships, regrets, classism, obsession, unrequited love, escaping the rat race, and the horror of parenting children in a modern world are all brought to life in these short snapshots into the lives of everyday people.
Some of the stories were so relatable that it was scary - particularly the ones about the teen using her interest in the occult as a distraction for how much she hates her body, or the one about the woman who had moved on from a relationship that she now recognises as the cause of her PTSD, only to discover that her ex has moved nearby.
"I'm half amazed that a thought, a way of looking at something can just sit unchallenged, unexamined, for twenty years before you can take a look at it and realise that it's junk."
The one about the mother reminiscing about her past while being terrified at the state of the world really hit a nerve too:
"I feel grief for the world I wanted them to have."
It's a book I'll read again - if you know Josie Long as a comedian, don't go into this one expecting laughs. It's heavy, and it's raw, but it's also a beautifully written reminder that everyone has their own shit to deal with, whether they choose to share it or not. I loved it.
Thank you to @canongatebooks for the ARC via Netgalley. I'll be buying a copy of this to keep too.
Some of the stories were so relatable that it was scary - particularly the ones about the teen using her interest in the occult as a distraction for how much she hates her body, or the one about the woman who had moved on from a relationship that she now recognises as the cause of her PTSD, only to discover that her ex has moved nearby.
"I'm half amazed that a thought, a way of looking at something can just sit unchallenged, unexamined, for twenty years before you can take a look at it and realise that it's junk."
The one about the mother reminiscing about her past while being terrified at the state of the world really hit a nerve too:
"I feel grief for the world I wanted them to have."
It's a book I'll read again - if you know Josie Long as a comedian, don't go into this one expecting laughs. It's heavy, and it's raw, but it's also a beautifully written reminder that everyone has their own shit to deal with, whether they choose to share it or not. I loved it.
Thank you to @canongatebooks for the ARC via Netgalley. I'll be buying a copy of this to keep too.
May 6, 2023
Stand up comedian Josie Long's short story collection came as a surprise, there is nothing in the way of an upbeat tone, instead what you get is an astute and observational eye on the darker and more unsettling aspects of life. I did not necessarily connect with every story, some were a little on the slight side and for me required more depth. The stories are:
A Good Day
We Decided to Leave London
A Little Dirty Thing
Forgetting
Gallus
Poet's Rise
2021, 20/21
Bold and Brazen
Just an Informal Chat
Volunteering
What You Could Have Done
Poets Rise Again
Between
A Photo Taken at a Small Town Museum
The Patron Saint of Lost Causes
I Don't Know
Long gives the reader a glimpse into a wide range of lives, touching on the doubts, insecurities and anxieties, and poor self esteem experienced by women and girls. There are issues of identity, and memories, including a boy's troubled relationship with his father, a forgotten memory surfaces of his abusive father from when he was a toddler. It probes being a parent, marriage, family, and the nature of relationships, the rose coloured glasses as opposed to the reality when seeing someone, the madness of a superficial enchantment, the obsessions, the tensions, body issues, feeling unsafe, and trauma. Long skilfully examines the small things, the everyday ordinariness and awkwardness, and being Long there is the occasional inclusion of the political and class. Definitely a short story collection worth reading. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.
A Good Day
We Decided to Leave London
A Little Dirty Thing
Forgetting
Gallus
Poet's Rise
2021, 20/21
Bold and Brazen
Just an Informal Chat
Volunteering
What You Could Have Done
Poets Rise Again
Between
A Photo Taken at a Small Town Museum
The Patron Saint of Lost Causes
I Don't Know
Long gives the reader a glimpse into a wide range of lives, touching on the doubts, insecurities and anxieties, and poor self esteem experienced by women and girls. There are issues of identity, and memories, including a boy's troubled relationship with his father, a forgotten memory surfaces of his abusive father from when he was a toddler. It probes being a parent, marriage, family, and the nature of relationships, the rose coloured glasses as opposed to the reality when seeing someone, the madness of a superficial enchantment, the obsessions, the tensions, body issues, feeling unsafe, and trauma. Long skilfully examines the small things, the everyday ordinariness and awkwardness, and being Long there is the occasional inclusion of the political and class. Definitely a short story collection worth reading. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.
November 16, 2023
Because I Don't Know What You Mean and What You Don't is a collection of short stories which, for me, sums up why I love short stories. Here we have a range of offbeat and punchy vignettes which each offer a 'slice of life' insight into the various characters' lives and human experiences. Each of them is dealing with their own issues and tensions, and I found it fascinating to read about them, even if only briefly.
As is always the case with a collection of stories, I connected more with some than others but I truly enjoyed reading them all - which is quite rare for me. The characters are deep, interesting and flawed - and they, or the people around them, are often problematic in their own ways, but SO intriguing to read about! Some stories are deliciously dark and often bittersweet in their tone. Each was thought-provoking in its own way, and I thought the writing was great - incredibly engaging and I found that the mix of stories felt very well curated.
I'd highly recommend Because I Don't Know What You Mean and What You Don't, especially if you're after a dark and intriguing collection of short stories which make you think.
4.5 stars bumped to 5/5. Read more book reviews on www.snazzybooks.com.
As is always the case with a collection of stories, I connected more with some than others but I truly enjoyed reading them all - which is quite rare for me. The characters are deep, interesting and flawed - and they, or the people around them, are often problematic in their own ways, but SO intriguing to read about! Some stories are deliciously dark and often bittersweet in their tone. Each was thought-provoking in its own way, and I thought the writing was great - incredibly engaging and I found that the mix of stories felt very well curated.
I'd highly recommend Because I Don't Know What You Mean and What You Don't, especially if you're after a dark and intriguing collection of short stories which make you think.
4.5 stars bumped to 5/5. Read more book reviews on www.snazzybooks.com.
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