Thanks to @vintageanchorbooks for sending me Why I Don’t Write by Susan Minot. This is the second collection I’ve finished this month for #storyseptember. I had high hopes for this one, but ultimately it did not work for me. Most of the stories felt underdeveloped. One story struck me as very transphobic and I was very surprised it was included in the collection. It left me with a bad taste in my mouth. There was one random story that had supernatural elements (Cafe Mort) that felt completely out of place. One story (Listen) consists entirely of unattributed dialog about politics lately but somehow manages to say nothing at all. The only story I really liked much at all was the last one - The Language of Cats and Dogs, about a college student who is victim of unwanted advances of her male professor.

Almost nothing about this collection really moved me, or made me feel much of anything except indifference. I know there is a lot of love for Minot’s previous books. I’m just very uninspired to pick them up after this one.