2020: Roxane Gay is really, really good at her job. This collection of short stories made me gasp, think, wrestle and reconcile with my beliefs. If I had to sum it up, the stories are about women who have had difficult situations thrown at them in life, and how amazing they are at surviving AND thriving after that. Society still manages to call these women "difficult", as opposed to their situations. The stories are also about how the people that most often help and support these difficult women are their female friends and their sisters.

I was unable to find out during a brief internet search whether or not Roxane Gay is an only child (she tweeted recently about her niece & nephew, so I'm gonna go with NOT, but I'm not 100% sure) but she mentions it a couple of times in these stories. I also connected with her having multiple characters who are twins, as a twin relationship is what I wished for most as an only child growing up.

Overall, I don't love short stories; they always leave me wanting more (and not in a satisfactory way). Or maybe I'm just out of practice with them. I would LOVE to see a full version of "North Country", this was my favorite story by far. I just want more of those characters! I also think that "The Sacrifice of Darkness" could be made into a SICK film. Just saying, Ava DuVernay.... It was honestly chilling to read about the New Civil War during a time in which we are tearing down statues of Confederate leaders.