Reviews for Vanilla Bright Like Eminem

The average rating for Vanilla Bright Like Eminem based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2010-08-26 00:00:00 Buk Yah Everyone should read these stories. A couple made me cry and I two inspired vivid nightmares where I woke up in sweats. THis collection is mostly contemporary settings except for one of the stories which takes place in the nineteenth century. Each story is distinct, complete and entirely different than the last. He is fearless in his choice of character inhabitation (does that make sense?) In one story he writes from the point of view of a recovering meth head mother, in another from a tyranical dictator afflicted with illness...but he is generous to every single character. He loves his characters and it makes me as a reader feel loved and love. THere is something I can relate to in every story. His details are precise and colorful (like the rainbow, not eccentric,) and he provokes beautiful ideas about life and death and everything else. He has seduced me. Read his stuff!!!!!!!!!! His novel, "Crimson Petal and the White," is also fantastic for lovers of historical fiction and stories concerning spunky prostitutes.

Review # 2 was written on 2010-07-12 00:00:00 Terry Aubrey Although the stories in this book don't match the menacing power of Faber's Under the Skin, it's still a decent collection. Faber is clearly not afraid to take risks. There is quite a range to these stories, but they can be loosely grouped into three (roughly equally represented) categories: # stories set in a vaguely dystopic future # stories set in the present with a setting or premise that is unusual or a little extreme # stories set in the present with a completely quotidian setting An example of the second category is "Finesse", in which a totalitarian dictator needs to undergo a risky operation to survive, and finds that the doctor most capable of performing the surgery successfully is a woman he consigned to a "detention camp" years before, Another example is "Flesh Remains Flesh", a story about an over-zealous taxidermist who comes to a bad end. The stories in this category explore the same territory favored by Roald Dahl in his stories for adults. Many writers have a tendency to stick within a single, relatively narrow, category, so Faber's willingness to stretch is admirable. All of the stories in the collection are accomplished; four or five are exceptional. Interestingly, it was the least flashy stories that were most successful, in my opinion. A recovering drug addict tries to reconnect with her son who's been placed in foster care ("Serious Swimmers"); a new mother is overwhelmed by parenthood ("The Smallness of the Action"); a computer gamer's horizons are extended by an encounter with a tiny neighbor ("Mouse") - in each of these stories, and the title story, Faber reminds us that even the quotidian dullness of everyday existence has its moments of unexpected grace.