Willful Creatures: Stories by Aimee Bender

Aimee Bender is sometimes needlessly obtuse and long-winded with her fables, but when she gets it right she really gets it right. Her best stories remind me of my good friend Sarah in Connecticut who has the most playful and artful way of talking sometimes—her sentences are sprinkled with nonsensical words, root vegetables, crazy brainfarts. My favorite story in this collection is about a wealthy woman who goes to a party intent on kissing three men: one with black hair, one with red hair, and a blond. It’s a little funny, a little strange, and all Bender. But I have to say I still like her novel, An Invisible Sign of My Own, better than her short story collections.