Sin Can Be Good…
By Karen Brown
University of Nebraska Press, $17.95, 194 pages
At first I was stumped at why I had a hard time reading through these stories because I really enjoyed Karen Brown’s writing. I thought it was because I didn’t like the content. Then I realized that it wasn’t the content but how invasive I felt. Karen Brown’s descriptive and honest writing made me feel like I was there, a fly on the wall, spying on her characters.
Her eleven stories are set in suburbia and express everyday pain, love, loss, passion and death and how escapism is created in order to cope or not to cope. There is also a stress on women and the role women play according to society in domesticated life. The stories are dark, haunting and sad. I liked how all of it made me uncomfortable. It felt real. It was a reminder that no matter where we are or who we are we all experience the tragic beauty and ugliness of life.
Karen Brown is a clever writer and as a result of that her stories are silent strikers on the psyche. Little Sinners and other stories will be a lasting memory.
Reviewed by Courtney New
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