Chapter Twenty-Six: Vampires in the Lemon Grove

Since reading (and being engrossed in) Swamplandia! and hearing Karen Russell at a reading and q-&-a a couple of months ago, I've been meaning to check out her two previously-published collections of short stories. Although I generally prefer novels to short stories, I found myself enjoying this collection, on the whole. Most of all, I really appreciated the strangeness in so many of these stories, from a vampire hooked on lemons to a veteran's extraordinary tattoo (I was reminded by this especially of Roald Dahl's short story "Skin" and in general the collection reminded me vaguely of Dahl's short stories for adults) and beyond. Anyone with a taste for the unusual (and for well-written stories) should definitely take a look at this collection.