Some Possible Solutions

Reviews / Votes

This stunning collection establishes Helen Philips as one of the most interesting and talented writers working today. In atmosphere and setting, her stories are often reminiscent of Kafka and Atwood, yet her voice and style are entirely her own. A fascinating, unsettling, and beautifully written work -- Emily St John Mandel, author of <i>Station Eleven</i> I love Helen Phillips's wild, brilliant, eccentric brain. Her vision flashes down like a lightning bolt into everyday terrors - but in a way so wonderfully awry that every single story has a freshness to it that comes as a shock to the reader's system -- Lauren Groff, author of <i>Fates and Furies</i> Darkly funny... echoes of Margaret Atwood and Shirley Jackson... but in the end her voice is her own; a kind of wryly optimistic and apocalyptically witty warmth that makes even her most outlandish imaginings feel, well, possible * SFX * Phillips brings a domestic matter-of-factness to these almost science-fictional scenarios... her stories bounce defamiliarising insights back into the real world * Sunday Times * She uses the opportunities afforded by speculative fiction to articulate emotional states that generally go unspoken... the hit-rate here is impressively high * Herald * I would definitely be open to reading Ms Phillips again and again * Bookbag * Unsettling... quirky... strong flavours of surrealism * The Book Satchel (blog) * Comparisons to Margaret Atwood and Karen Russell would not be unjust, nor would they be helpful; Phillips is carving her own, messier territory. As beautifully as she embraces and executes the fantastical, she's even better when the surreal remains a mere lurking possibility * New York Times * Phillips plays out for us what might happen if the impossible were possible . . . She is a master at building slightly askew worlds that resemble our own but allow for the inexplicable, the astonishing, the surreal. * LA Times * Helen Phillips sings like a Siren on the page (if a Siren also had a killer sense of humor) . . . these tales are true originals, shining their eerie, lovely lights on the water and asking questions that linger -- Karen Russell, author of <i>Swamplandia</i> Phillips holds a mirror up to society, pushing us to think critically about the idiosyncrasies of modern life . . . Like Margaret Atwood and Lorrie Moore, she has a knack for combining the strange, the speculative, and the mundane into an unpredictable array of stories. Like our best thinkers and futurists, she has the audacity to extrapolate the perhaps-possible, to explore potential answers to some of our deepest, unspoken questions * Chicago Review of Books * Things happen that cannot happen. Marriages, motherhood, dinner parties, the future - Helen Phillips shows us the uncanny seams of ordinary lives and wishes. I recommend the experience to any and all - this is an essential collection -- Kelly Link, author of <i>Get in Trouble</i> Captivating... Some Possible Solutions is a dark read filled with people in pain and lives upended by the most unpredictable of circumstances. But it's also tremendously hopeful * The Rumpus * The short stories in this darkly absorbing collection remind us of the hope and humanity, the warmth, joy, and love that can be found in even the bleakest circumstances... Phillips proves yet again that she is an intuitive, emotionally resonant writer who is willing to consider some of life's biggest questions and offer, yes, a few possible solutions -- Starred review * Kirkus * A surreal, disturbing assemblage of worlds, each complete and somehow totally convincing despite their strangeness ... a delight - there is joy in its darkness, and pleasure in its exuberant imagination * Buzzfeed, Best Fiction Books of 2016 *