I whipped through this book. The stories fly by. They are sweet, tender, and cruel. At first I thought it was a perpetuation of a certain indictment against men (black men) but at the end I think it is the mothers that come in for the most approbation. All (?) of the protagonists are childless. On purpose. Sad the way pain travels and can't really correct itself until some brave woman says—there’ll be no more of that.

(4.5) This collection is so unique. I often feel the voices in short story collections can be indistinguishable or too similar for my brain to not try to thread the stories together as one.

However, I love the way Philyaw leans heavily into distinct voices and personas of vastly different characters to thread them together with their desires. It made me want more of each story, and I think this was brilliant. ( )

Every story is dazzling. Sex, identity, religion, difficult mother daughter relationships, Publix potato salad and sweet tea, what more does anyone need? I listened to the audio, and I think it is particularly well suited to audio (and also the reader, Janina Edwards, is superb.)

"Eula" is absolute perfection. Sexy, funny and sad and really physical. Such a sense of immediacy -- I feel like I am in that room with these two women in love.

"Not Daniel was a perfect piece of microfiction - Charming and ribald in the space of 6 minutes.

"Dear Sister", while less elegant than Eula, was sassy and smart and a compelling introduction to this complicated mess of a family that I 100% want to join.

"Preach Cobbler" broke my heart into crumbs

"Snowfall" broke what was left of my heart after reading Preach Cobbler; the damage bad religion can do almost outpaces the healing good love can bring.

"How to Make Love to a Physicist" is the story that most touched me personally. I understand this woman who had absorbed the message that she does not deserve love, but I rooted for the man that wanted to show her different."

"Jael" made me laugh and cry, not metaphorically. The surprises in a young girl's diary and the ugliness of fixed ideas of what a girl should be. Being sexually attractive to men and acting on that brings accolades and censure. Ignoring male attention brings the same. Men destroy women, and not wanting men is an abomination. It can all make a girl just a little crazy.

"Instructions for Married Christian Husbands" was tightly crafted and really enjoyable, but this was the one woman in this book I didn't know. That might be a hole in my experience. The women I know who have divided sex from feeling haven't thought things out quite so fully as the MC in this story,

"When Eddie Levert Comes" shows us a mother and daughter where there is love but no liking, a daughter longing for validation, taking on the work of caring for a mother with dementia, and finding that even in dementia only men matter. ( )

The prose is beautiful, at times bordering on poetry. That said, I wasn't able to get emotionally invested in most of the characters to any significant degree. Many of them just seem numb, which I think is intentional, but is difficult to get through as a reader. This is about a struggle between religion, God, society, family, love and lust, and yet it largely lacks emotion. ( )

3.75

i'm not a fan of short stories collections bc they are always too short for me to engage but this one was surprising to me. there was only 2 stories i didnt like and the rest of them were like 4 stars on avrg. my fav one was Peach Cobbler, it made me very sad at times and i think i understood it the most. i liked the mentions of christianity and culture around church esp in the last story bc some of those topics were similar to what i experience everyday. one thing i wish was diffrient was the first two stories being longer coz i really liked them but they just kinda ended and i wanted more :( overall i think its a great collection and i think theres something in it for everyone. ( )