Used for the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge category of a book in which every point-of-view character is a person of color, though I originally intended for it to be my short story collection written by a woman. I expected my feelings about this book to be tepid because I have long identified as one of those readers who dislike short stories. But ZZ Packer creates rich characters and wonderful dialogue that drew me in, and her ambiguous endings somehow felt not disappointing, but relentlessly authentic. My favorites were "Brownies," "Our Lady of Peace," "Drinking Coffee Elsewhere," and "Doris Is Coming."