Mini-review: Hellions (stories), by Julia Elliott

Julia Elliott is at the top of her craft as far as descriptive prose and complex characterization go. I don't happen to enjoy how the majority of her stories resolve, but that's more of an problem for me than her. If you appreciate characters making what may seem to be foolish choices, out of desperation or just longing to get more out of life, and stories with horror elements, along with some stories that seem to be more like prologues than complete in themselves, you may consider her a great writer.

I requested Elliott's Hellions (stories) or maybe Hellions: stories (these seem to be the titles suggested by the cover's typography, although
Hellions
Stories
is how the publisher's webpage has it) from NetGalley mainly due to Jeff VanderMeer, author of the Southern Reach series, who recommends it thus: "Beautiful, visceral, surprising stories, both wild and dangerous, with a Southern twang but universal appeal." Sounds great, right? And everything he says is true, except maybe for the universal appeal.

Elliott's prose is indeed vivid, and many of her protagonists have compelling voices. I frequently paused in my reading to admire a passage's effectiveness. She's also a very creative writer, and I found the setups for her stories, and some of their twists and turns, very interesting. But I kept coming to the ends of stories being disappointed in how they resolved, either with a reaction of "Huh, so I guess that's it?" or simply recoiling. Out of the first half of the book, 5 short stories, I only really liked "Hellion" (despite some unpleasantness that happens) and decided that I had higher priorities than finishing the rest of the collection.