Publisher: Grove/Atlantic Page Count: 208 Year Published: 2021
I tend to gravitate toward long-form fiction, but Milk Blood Heat might’ve convinced me to read more short story collections. A mesmerizing debut, each story takes place in Florida, traversing the land through the eyes of a thirteen year old girl, a woman recovering from a miscarriage, a teenager squirming under the pressure of her religious family, servers at a supper club for the wealthy, and two siblings traveling with their father’s ashes and struggling to reconcile their radically different understandings of who he was in life.
Each story glistens with an electric need for truth, and carries a desire to understand mortality. Expansive yet concise, the collection dissects pivotal moments in each character’s lives that feel familiar but singular.
Read if you like: The Office of Historical Corrections and Lauren Groff
Read It Like Rory 