Fantasy Annotation: Get in Trouble Stories by Kelly Link

GET IN TROUBLE: Stories

By Kelly Link

SYNOPSIS:

What makes a happy ending? Is it happy for everyone? What does a happy ending cost?

Kelly Link explores fantastical realms with touches of horror, humor, and science fiction. In one book of short stories we meet the “summer people,” a demon lover, superheroes,  the “faces” of spoiled teens of the future, monsters, ghosts, automated humans, astronauts, aliens, and multiple dimensions.

As the reader plummets through each story, it’s easy to forget that the topics being discussed, such as, death, abandonment, inappropriate and unrequited love, unwanted pregnancy, surrogate pregnancy, suicide, fear of aging, natural disasters, and more, are as profound as they are! The author makes what is difficult, relatable with macabre humor and wit.  More impressive is that Link also makes the bizarre and imaginary completely believable, by using fantasy to accept reality.

CHARACTERISTICS/APPEAL:

Mood: Although mood varies from story to story, overall, the book somehow manages to combine dark and macabre suffering and foreboding with a sense of humor.

Violence: The violence in this book is extremely minimal. However, the sense of unease created by the dark topics makes it feel as if there was more violence and destruction than is ever present.

 Relationships: The characters of this book explore the destructive element of relationships. Few, if any, of the relationships in the collection of stories are redeeming, and most are the source of the narrator’s greatest emotional pain.

Pacing: Although the subjects are fantastical, the actual storylines are based on exploration of relationships and real issues. However, because each story is so unique and descriptive, they are engrossing and the reader moves quickly through each tail, needing to know how it will all end.

Setting: Each story is told in a different setting; however, a common thread is that each is set in a world which merges the mundane, the every day suffering that is humanity, with fantastical beings and realms which are distinctly NOT human.

READ-A-LIKES:

Hall of Small Animals by Thomas Pierce

The Color Master by Aimee Bender

Lungs Full of Noise by Tessa Mellas

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

WATCH-A-LIKES:

 Wristcutters: A Love Story (Film)

Scotty Pilgrim vs. The World (Film)

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Film)

Pushing Daisies (TV Series)

Six Feet Under (TV Series)