Living Dolls and Other Women by S. Montana Katz

I love the idea of a book telling stories about women in the '80's art world, and I think the stories of misogyny are important ones. The idea of making it a collection of short stories is great on one hand, because it shows how wide-spread certain problems were - they were and are not just one person having the wrong encounter, they are several micro- and macro-agressions interwoven in the very fabric of society.

On the other hand, I do not feel the concept of short stories is executed as well as it could have been in this collection. They were too short, too fast. Perhaps they are stronger when you already have knowledge of and experience with the 1980's New York art world (or if you have lived in the 1980's for more than the five years I have lived in that decade, or in New York, or if you are artistically inclined, and are more aware of the surrounding issues). For a relative noob like me, it is like I am dropped into a setting, and before I know where I am, the scene is already over and done with. It feels like I miss the punch line all the time.

The writing style is not quite my thing either. It is very descriptive in a matter-of-fact way. This on one hand draws the attention to the descriptions too much for someone like me, because I'm trying to get my bearings in the story, and on the other hand it made even the shortest stories with the most important message, seem dullish.

I think the solution to both problems would be to make the actual time line a bit longer, make the characters actually do and say more, give us readers a bit more time to connect to them - and keep the stories from getting too long by cutting out a lot of fluff and unnecessary descriptions. This collection of short stories would then be perfect.

2,5 stars upped to 3, because I think these stories should get the chance to be read apart from how well they are written.

I want to thank Netgalley and Guernica World Editions for the chance to read this book.

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