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starrysteph 's review for:
Urban Creatures
by Sarah Gray
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Urban Creatures was an unsettling collection of short stories dealing with life & death & the space between.
I wouldn’t necessarily call these stories scary, but they are raw and uncomfortable and offer a chance to reflect. I really enjoyed Gray’s more experimental works and stylistic prose, as well as the two pieces at the end of the collection that dealt very directly with her own experience with terminal illness.
The first few stories felt a little detached & uneven. But as the collection progressed, the writing became deeper and more vulnerable and therefore eerier.
There’s a huge variety in style and length and topic here (a big plus for me). The narrators are never clear antagonists or protagonists - it’s all a bit murky and morally gray and I enjoyed sitting with that.
Gray has a unique voice and a lot to say. There are some concepts from this collection that will be sticking with me for a very long time.
CW: death, grief, murder, terminal illness, chronic illness, medical trauma, mental illness, child abuse, pedophilia, ableism, animal death, cancer, confinement, emotional abuse, fatphobia, miscarriage, pregnancy, stalking, suicidal thoughts, toxic relationship/friendship
(I received a free copy of this book; this is my honest review.)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship