Old Crimes

 Book 41 of my 2025 Reading Challenge

read from May 5 - 11

Old Crimes: and Other Stories by Jill McCorkle

published 2024

Summary (excerpt from the book jacket)

Old Crimes delves into the lives of characters who hold their secrets and misdeeds close, even as the past continues to reverberate across generations. And despite the characters' yearnings for connection, they can't seem to tell the whole truth: A woman uses her hearing impairment as a way to guard herself from her husband's commentary. A telephone lineman strains to communicate with his family even as he feels pushed aside in a digital world. A young couple buys a confession booth for fun, only to discover the cost of honesty. A family reunion, ripe with treasured memories and long-held resentments, takes place amid a secret that will alter all of their futures. Throughout, McCorkle takes us deep into these conflicted and sympathetic characters, puzzling to figure out the meaning of their own lives. 

My Opinion

2 stars

I picked this up from the library after seeing it in Bookpage.

The book jacket says the author delivers short stories "as complex as small novels" and that's a good way to describe them.  There was depth and storytelling in each story.

Unfortunately for me, this just didn't hit.  Most of the stories felt too wordy and complex for me and then ones that I did enjoy felt too short.  Either way, jamming so much narrative into short stories doesn't appear to work for me.