I really really liked this; sometimes I find anthologies hard to follow, or feel jerked around by them, but this was such a smooth read with so many different great stories in it. The introductory texts didn't feel overwhelming or intrusive, but I still definitely felt like I was prepared to read the story. (It helps a lot, I think, that there weren't excerpts of chapters from books, or if there were, they were the first chapter so I didn't feel like I lost anything.) I don't know that any stood out to me as particularly exceptional, not because they blended together, but because each story really was so special and interesting in its own way.

I do want to note Junot Díaz is included in this collection, and his story does read much like the rest of his other works. Gwen Benaway has written about his piece in the New Yorker and I'll link to it here: https://www.flare.com/news/junot-diaz-abuse/. ( )