Knockout Beauty and Other Afflictions - Marina Rubin - ★★★★

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AUTHOR: Marina Rubin
GENRE: Anthology.
RATING: 4.1 stars

In a Nutshell: A knockout beauty of an anthology with hardly any afflictions.


When I opened this indie collection by Ukrainian-American indie author Marina Rubin, I looked for the author’s note. In any anthology, this is my first step as it gives me an idea of what to anticipate from the stories. There was no author’s note. *disappointed sigh.* When I peeked into the blurb in the hope of getting some sign about the theme, I saw some hefty claims:
👉 “Insightful, and often wickedly funny”;
👉 “stories of desire, damage, and human meandering”;
👉 “filled with drama, irony, humor, and unforgettable characters“;
👉 “Affairs, addictions, loss, and loneliness come alive”;
👉 ”hope, redemption, and the search for beauty.”

There is no way an indie work is going to live up to such exaggerations, right?

Right?

Wrong!

Every single word in the blurb is applicable to some or the other story herein. The whole collection is quite varied in its content. We have successful protagonists as well as struggling ones. Love stories as well as hate stories. Funny incidents as well as emotional events. Humour as well as melancholy. The stories span a multitude of countries as well, ranging from Thailand to New Zealand to Ukraine to Spain… And yet, there is one thing in common to each tale – a central character who seems to be on the lookout for something. The “something” could range from something material to something more ethereal, but the pulse of most of the stories throbs vividly with this search, this want, this need of filling in a gap. The main character in most stories is thus a broken person facing a conundrum.

Except for one story, which is about thirty pages long, the tales are quite short and quick-paced. Usually, when I read anthologies, I spread out the read over a week or so, taking in a couple of stories a day. When I keep the anthology aside after the daily quota, I rarely feel the need to read *one more* as too many short stories at a go can feel saturating. Not this time though. I read half the book on one day and completed it on the next, and not once did I feel mentally overloaded. Though a couple of the stories were a bit more R-rated than I prefer, I still liked the emotions behind them.

As always, I rated the stories individually, and most of the stories were either good or great for me. Twelve of the seventeen stories reached or crossed the four star mark, which is a fabulous hit record. Here are my top favourites with 4.5+ stars each:

🌺 Jaula – When a young author does what she needs to do in order to succeed in this competitive world. Loved how this simple premise doesn’t stop the story from being compelling. - 🌟🌟🌟🌟💫

🌺 Your Lover is British – Self-explanatory from the title. I laughed all the way through this story, and I think, if you have an open-minded sense of humour, you will laugh too. Can’t vouch for its accuracy as I have never had a British lover! 😂 - 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 (or rather - 😂😂😂😂😂)

🌺 Smorgas – A love story unlike any I have read before. Excellent depiction of a practical quandary. - 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

🌺 Scream – Was a 4 star story for me until the “scream” happened and elevated the experience. I love it when the final story in an anthology leaves me with a smile or in tears. This one generated a nice, big grin. - 🌟🌟🌟🌟💫

All in all, I loved this eclectic collection. 2023 is proving to be a marvellous year for my anthology reading, and this collection goes without any hesitation onto my annual favourites list.

If you enjoy unusual anthologies with complicated protagonists facing real problems, I’d definitely recommend this one.

4.1 stars, based on the average of my ratings for each tale.
(If you are familiar with my ratings, you know that anything above 4 is outstanding for an anthology.)

My thanks to author Marina Rubin for providing me with a complimentary copy of “Knockout Beauty and Other Afflictions”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

The anthology is available for free to Kindle Unlimited subscribers.

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