Whoa.
I should have been more prepared for this fiction collection. Each story is written in a realism that strays so subtly off the path of reality by the time you’re finished. Except once you’ve meandered off that path, you can’t seem to get back. And the conclusion is often haunting and disturbing.
Another reviewer mentioned that Fowler's stories straddle the line between reality and not-quite-reality. I couldn’t say it any better.

I like to judge fiction by a simple formula. Do I remember the story a day after I read it? Does it make me feel something?
In this case, I can’t forget some of the things that happen.

There are some award winners in here. “Always” depicts a religious immortality commune, specifically a teen girl caught up in the hysteria. In “The Pelican Bar,” a girl is sentenced to a rehabilitative boot camp. “What I Didn’t See” has a “Heart of Darkness” feel to it; a woman travels to see the elusive silver back gorillas and attempts to shoot one to deter others from shooting the apes. And that’s not even the strange part of the story.

I think the whole collection won an award.

There’s two John Wilkes Booth stories. As if one wasn’t enough. “The Dark,” possibly my favorite story in the collection, connects incidents that are years and thousands of miles apart, that involve a “wild boy” in Yosemite Park and “tunnel rats” during the Vietnam War.

It’s worth a read, if you are looking for a few unforgettable stories.
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Strange short stories, some a bit dark, but nearly all had a sense of humor and humanity. Quite a variety, if there’s some overall commonality I didn’t see it. My second Fowler book, I’ll be looking into others: I’m curious about one called “The Jane Austen Book Club.” ( )

I listened to these stories while working, some were pretty good, others were incredibly bland and immediately forgettable. ( )

"The older I get, the more I want a happy ending." ( )

A must-read for any Karen Joy Fowler fan. These stories are wild and unexpected. Fowler is an expert of the short story form. ( )