Mock Printz: Pretty Monsters by Kelly Link

Title: Pretty Monsters
Author: Kelly Link
Publisher: Viking
ISBN: 9780670010905
Starred review in: Kirkus, Booklist, PW

I'm not big into speculative fiction but I do love short stories and this book and Kelly Link herself are getting tons of buzz, deservedly so. This is Link's first all-YA collection. Each of the stories focus on a teenager in an offbeat situation. The opening story, "The Wrong Grave," is about a boy who wants to dig up his girlfriend because he buried some of his poetry with her and he wants it back. Being in fandom, I also enjoyed "Magic for Beginners," where a group of teens form a bond around a TV show. These stories are definitely a step off reality, but that's what makes them stand out. The language in the stories is simple yet elegant. Many of the stories are in first-person but feel as though they're in third, a technique I find fascinating because it makes me question my belief that all first-person narrators are inherently unreliable.

I definitely feel that this book is high on the "literary quality" scale, and it's one I'd fight for at the Mock Printz.