this was a collection of short stories that were occasionally linked thru characters, reminding me of Alice Munroe's short stories. at first I wasn't sure if it was dystopian/sci fi - the background of the stories could be SO weird (and dark) but realized it was just her magical realism style just a little bit out of control. I usually love Kate Atkinson, but in these short pieces I finally noticed her predilection for item listing, and it sort of annoyed me, like she was cheating with the word count.