review: mrs. somebody somebody by tracy winn

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Tracy Winn’s debut short story collection is uneven at best. All the stories apparently take place in the mill town of Lowell, MA (the setting is only spelled out on occasion, but seems to be what Winn intended as the thread that brings all the stories together) at different points in the twentieth century. The title story which takes place during the mill’s heyday was thought-provoking as it illustrated the struggle between the workers who wanted to unionize and those who were “company men.” After that story which comes first in Mrs. Somebody Somebody, I had high hopes for the rest of the collection. Unfortunately, few of the stories that followed lived up to the expectations set in that first one. Stories like Gumbo Limbo seemed to be working at something, but never quite got there. Many of the others were nothing more than a slice of life excerpt that could have been interesting if the characters weren’t so boring.
1/5
Review copy provided by BookDivas.