Zolitude

Finished January 7

Zolitude by Paige Cooper

This collection of stories is wide-ranging, with some flowing along and other disjointed and hard to follow. There is a touch of the strange to all of them, whether of setting, action, or character. The women in these stories are often caught in circumstances that they don't like, whether it is waiting for someone who will never arrive, being the recipient of a dangerous package, or trying to get answers in a foreign country. These are women who have been treated badly, by their family, by their colleagues, by the people that they have encountered through their work. 

I can't say that I enjoyed these stories, but they did sometimes make me think. When this collection came out in 2018 it was one of the nominees for the Giller Prize, and drew a variety of stellar reviews. One description was offbeat and that is definitely fitting. Throughout, you can sense the author's command of story and of language. 

A unique and interesting colleciton.