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When the newborn arrives, it, too, has aquatic characteristics: “His fish mouth breathed the steamy air. To quote the view of one of the protagonists, "Two people don't sit on either side of a screen rather than either side of a coffee table if they're going to be completely honest about themselves". Granta editor Rausing, who also who chaired the judges, said although she was hesitant to speculate on what the list tells us about the next generation or the state of the nation, "some common themes still emerge".
This is about modern love featuring mostly young women in their early twenties or less which was actually refreshing to see as a short story collection. There are some very detailed and graphic topics such as abortion, abuse, sexual assault, adult/minor relationships.Twelve-year-old Stella seeks approval from Blue, her older stepsister’s friend, a magnetic alpha who basks in Stella’s admiration and, like Lara, enjoys flexing her influence at others’ expense. It is sometimes feral, often unflinching, packed with something deeper and yet something ultimately effortless. Quotes from the blurb describe Saba Sam's debut as "highly perceptive and intelligent" ( Nicole Flattery) and "wry, sharp and raw" ( Emma Cline). A collection of short story’s focusing on the journey from girlhood to womanhood … each rather extreme and dramatic (but also oddly spot on) and each as intriguing as the next. It’s high where Blue is standing, and the rock curves outward, so that if Blue didn’t push herself off far enough, she could scrape her body on the way down.
In the first story I’d been experimenting with tenses – jumping around between past and present – just as a way of forcing myself to keep writing. Jasmine hasn’t spoken for almost the entire meal, just moved the rice from one side of her plate to the other. In her mind, Stella sees the water seeping into all the round outlines of the buttons, the ridges where the Dream Lens has been carved to fit, the film canisters sloshing aqua. Unfolding against a backdrop of grimy pubs, music festivals and yoga yurts, these funny, surprising stories articulate the wonder and disillusionment that go hand in hand with testing new boundaries. Saba Sams digs into the chaos, euphoria and menace of sexual attraction, friendship and family with bravery and wit.Her fiction and non-fiction has appeared in Granta, the Stinging Fly and the White Review, among other publications. Saba Sams is adept at wrongfooting our assumptions, creating a set of unique, multi-dimensional characters with rich internal lives, and viewing it all through the lens of a 12-year-old girl. I really enjoyed 'Here Alone', 'Snakebite', 'Blue 4eva' and 'The Bread', but my favorite is the title story 'Send nudes'. She might not know this consciously, but she makes the choice to take the dog with her nonetheless, and in the act she is redeemed by this sliver of control.
That sense of something unknown coming permeates these stories, making them slippery in the hand and yet painfully simple at the same time. She spoke at an even volume, as if she was saying something completely normal, still looking out over the road as the cars went by. a diverse and poignant range of short stories about being a woman in today's society, in all its messiness and vulnerabilities. The stories of Send Nudesdeftly chart the treacherous terrain of growing up and into women we want to become, with lyrical lines pierced by grotesque sensory descriptions, and protagonists who never veer into stereotypes or predictable character tropes.This seems to work the same for Claire too; since she married Frank, she remembers things like how much water Stella’s drunk that day. The phrase may remind readers of ultra-forward guys on Tinder, but, as the titular story shows, the act is underpinned by more serious matters too: consent, self-confidence, who and what society deems attractive.
If you took the very opposite of these fine sentiments, I think this is the actuality of what is represented in the portrayals. When she breaks the surface, she puts her arms on the tiled edge and rests her chin in the crook of her wrists. My favorite aspect is that every women we meet puts herself first, no matter the situation she's in.The strongest four i've ever given, and that is not because it was not good enough or 'just' entertaining, which my usual fours stands for: some shorts stories in this collection is 5/5, while some are more between 3-4,5. Only a few weeks ago, Stella noticed her own in the zoom-in mirror that Frank has in the bathroom, and used his razor to shave it off. Another time, someone moved her book into the sun and left it for hours, so the glue in the spine melted and the pages started falling out.
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