Both Ways is the Only Way I Want It

Book 48 of my 2019 Reading Challenge

read from July 12 - 23

Both Ways is the Only Way I Want It

by Maile Meloy

Summary (via the book jacket)

published 2009

These eleven unforgettable stories have both the emotional impact and the clean, assured style that have earned Meloy praise from critics and devotion from readers. Propelled by her terrific instinct for storytelling, this collection is about the battlefields - and fields of victory - that exist in our everyday lives. Set mostly in the American West, the stories explore the moral quandaries of love, family, and friendship, as small-town lawyers, rangers, doctors, parents, and children try to keep hold of opposition forces in their lives: innocence and experience, risk and stability, fidelity and desire.

My Opinion

4 stars

I found the author's writing style absorbing because the characters were "regular" yet vivid and I was sucked in immediately.  I have a few notes about each story individually.

Travis, B.: had just the right amount of info for a short story.

Red from Green: this one made me ache - I wanted them to talk to not be so sad.

Lovely Rita: not a fan of this one, I lost interest and had to restart to know what I was reading.

Spy vs. Spy: the writing was fine but this one had a weird premise between the uncle and niece.

Two-Step: this one made me uncomfortable because the characters were so vivid.

The Girlfriend: one of my favorites in the book, it was a natural progression to a shitty end (for the characters, not as a story).

Liliana: strange how such a weird premise can seem so natural.  This story had the best out-of-context quote, "She looked great for eighty-seven, let alone for being dead."

Nine: This was my favorite.  Good length, invested from beginning to end.

Agustin: I feel repetitive but again, really good.

The Children: more of the same, really good.

O Tannenbaum: this one had a line that basically summed up the theme of the book, "He...hoped this was not one of those times you look back on and wish you had done one thing different, though it had seemed perfectly natural to do what you did at the time."