Before Reading
I want to issue a content warning for sexual assault. I will not discuss the subject in this post. However, three of the stories in this 260 page collection cover the subject. Two of these stories have explicit scenes
Synopsis
Difficult Women is a short story collection following the paths of women in both privilege and poverty going through different life struggles. It also follows women with difficult personalities.
Reading Experience
I have an interesting experience with this collection. I started reading these stories as a way to process grief. The day before, my grandmother past away and I decided it was a good collection to read in her honor. Like me, she was a difficult woman and I gravitated to stories that depicted women with, at times, personalities that are hard to deal with my loss.
My grandmother was a great woman. She struggled a lot in her life, but she loved her family. She was very attentive to what the people around her needed. At times, she was not easy to deal with, but that was her and I loved her.
I myself am not easy to deal with. I’m stubborn. Easily irritated. I can also be very annoying at times. I argue almost everything. I can’t stand most people because I feel like they look down on me. Like they see my blindness and not me. Very rarely have I been proven otherwise, so I hate dealing with most people and socializing feels more like a chore than something I should enjoy.
Review
I connected with these stories in ways I wasn’t expecting. I found myself empathising with most of the women. It was very emotional to read these stories. It felt a little like watching Violet Evergarden and Fruits Basket. Like Ayiti, these stories were very raw and honest. Gay paints a picture of the beautiful and ugly things and makes characters shine. It’s very easy to empathize with them because it feels real.
Conclusion
Overall, I enjoyed this collection. I started reading this as a way to process grief, not expecting to make such interesting connections. I rated it four stars. Like Ayiti, it has become one of my favorite short story collections.
Call To Action and Self Promotion
Let me know your thoughts on Difficult Women in the comments. Have you read it? If you did, what was your favorite thing about the collection? What was your favorite story? If you haven’t, do you plan to read it?
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Anexis Matos 
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