Thoughts: Hungry Hearts

Short stories have been perfect for my brain lately, just the punchy nature of a good short story really helps me read and relax. I’ve also been able to enjoy YA a bit more with my inability to focus super closely on things – so I found a YA Short Story collection to try! Based on an entire street/area of a town these stories all loosely hook together and some were definitely stronger than others.

Hungry Hearts: 13 Tales of Food & Love edited by Elsie Chapman & Caroline Tung Richmond

Source: Checkout at the Library
TL;DR:  Recommended to fans of YA and Foodie books

The Thoughts:

• The favorites that still stand out to me were Kings & Queens by Elsie Chapman, Sugar and Spite by Rin Chupeco, The Missing Ingredient by Rebecca Roanhorse, The Slender One by Caroline Tung Richmond, and Bloom by Pheobe North.
• It’s very obvious to me that most of these stories that I enjoyed were the darker stories in the collection. Rebecca Roanhorse’s story was so stand-out to me, mostly because I finished it and out-loud muttered ‘WTF?’. That story is all punch at the end, something I did not expect in this collection almost smack in the middle of it. I wonder if the placement was on purpose to keep you from hitting a lull right there.
• Having said that I don’t think that I enjoyed all these because I was in a darker frame of mind, I just think that of the stories they were the ones that had had the most thought put in. Especially Kings and Queens. It wasn’t dark in the grimdark fashion that I might class Rebecca Roanhorse’s story, but dark things happened. Still there was a tone of almost hope to it. It also had the most careful and well done construction to it’s frame. It’s the one, that a week later, still stands out to me and not due to the shock factor.
• The Slender One was also extremely interesting to me, but I think that maybe due to the cultural aspect of it as I’ve read stories set with with a similar culture. Her description of the ghosts really made it pop and stick out as well. They felt sad and yet scary enough that they were worrying.

• Over all I think the collection was worth reading, even for someone like me who doesn’t care (usually) for contemporary or YA. It was fast and satisfying and it covered a wide variety of topics. If you like either genre or are looking for something in this niche area – it’s a solid recommendation.