miss armfield you've done it again!! i tend to not enjoy short story collections because I need a bit more time to invest myself in the story but I decided to read this because I recently read julia armfield's debut novel our wives under the sea and it was stunning! the writing in this was just as I expected, so intelligently and visually written and never felt forced. my favourite story was the first one and like all short story collections, there were some duds. the first couple were definitely the best. i found this to be very similar in tone and writing style to nightbitch by rachel yoder except this one's writing is a bit more accessible and because it's shorter stories it doesn't drag as much as nightbitch. I wouldn't recommend this if you don't like magical realism or stories that don't really flesh out the world you're in, julia armfield writes for vibes and not plot so make sure you go in with the right expectations (the expectation that the weird and very strange stuff happening will not be explained, you just have to go along with it to enjoy). i do think I enjoyed our wives under the sea a bit more though so I would recommend reading that first if you're thinking of getting into julia armfield! 4.25 stars