Pamela Painter is one of a kind, and it’s the best kind. Re-reading the intimate stories in this collection I thought of Colette; reading the stories based on a conceit of metaphor, I though of Valenzuela. But that was only searching for comparisons, there’s nobody like Painter. These stories are so open, yet reveal more every time you read them.
—Robert Shapard
Freud said that everywhere he went, a poet had been there first. Pamela Painter, even with these crystal prose conundrums, is one of those poets. Her stories are charming and provocative, but be careful if you look again: something fundamental is being pried open and we may look if we dare. I will pay her sentences the highest compliment: they remind me of Grace Paley. I’ve always loved her stories for how tart and smart they are and how, as I catch my breath after reading each one, I can then feel the emotional thrum of her fiction’s beating heart.
—Ron Carlson
This is Flash writing at its most daring. These very short stories ricochet from love to loss, from the mystery of art to the art of creating mystery, from dreams to ghosts, and from the drama of a tragic air show to the magic of the movie trailer. Characters lie and love and recover from both. And then they go on to make the same mistakes again, but we’re always on their side. On the book’s last page we’re left with the final wistful words of this stunning collection— “Do you ever wish…?”