Idiot Men - Scott Gould - ★★★.¾

AUTHOR: Scott Gould

GENRE: Short Story Collection

RATING: 3.8 stars.

In a Nutshell: Focusses on “idiot men”, but not in the way you would imagine. Replete with humour and bittersweet scenarios. Loved this entertaining collection!

This collection of eleven stories entered my reading list for one and one reason alone: the title! Now, now! Don’t get me wrong! I am no misandrist! I have pointed out how thrillers need to improve their male rep and stop showing almost every husband as a cheating/lying/gaslighting jerk/killer. I have also criticised those “feminists” who believe in the superiority of women over men, and have always advocated equality across all genders. And yet, something in my heart just leapt with joy at the candour in that title! 😄

Every single one of these stories has a man as the central character, and as you can guess, the man’s situation makes him act like an idiot. Just to be clear: the men aren’t idiots to begin with. (At least, I think not!) Rather, they have been made idiots, either by circumstances or by a person (usually but not always, a woman.) Most of the men are thus victims of some kind, but rather than wallowing in their misery, they take idiotic decisions in a bid to get back. Thus begins the vicious loop of “idiots” falling in the trap of their own idiocy.

Every central character is a flawed one, but at the same time, most appear so vulnerable that we can’t help but root for them. What I loved the most is how relatable these characters are. None of them are larger than life, but rather, realistic men we can easily find in our neighbourhood.

The women in this book are mostly in negative roles, but I don’t mind this. Reality doesn’t have perfect women; why must we always demand them in stories? High time fictional men get some sympathy while evil fictional women walk all over them! I loved to see some of the men get back at the culprits. That said, I didn’t notice any obvious example of ‘men writing women’ in these pages; that’s a huge compliment from me to a male author!

It is obvious from the title that humour forms an important part of this collection. The comic factor is more satirical rather than slapstick. There are plenty of hilarious scenes and witty banter that add an entertaining layer to the otherwise serious situations.

Of the eleven stories, three tales are interlinked under a common heading called ‘The Gable Massey Trio’. These three Gable stories are the only ones written in third person; the rest are all in first person. I would have preferred a variation across the voices because while reading the anthology in one flow, the first-person voices sound similar.

It is disappointing to find no foreword or introductory note herein. This is the kind of anthology that needs, or rather, deserves an author's note. I would have loved to know the author’s motivation behind that title and the stories of this collection.

As always, I rated the stories individually. Every single story was at least a three star for me. Thus, there was no bad story here – all were either good or great for me. Even the ones that I didn't enjoy as much were excellent stories but not my type of tales because of their content.

My top favourites were:

✤ Word of the Day – The main character was an uncouth, burly truck driver who even considers hurting an animal to get back at his wife. And I still enjoyed this! Go figure! - 🌟🌟🌟🌟💫

✤ Playing Chicken – A male nurse is at the receiving end of this amusing tale. Didn’t expect that ending! - 🌟🌟🌟🌟💫

✤ The Gable Massey Trio: I can't believe a man wrote such a sensitive story about dealing with a difficult pregnancy and its aftermath. Sorry, I know that sounds very sexist of me, but I am just being frank. I have rarely seen a male author explore human emotions so well! If nothing else, then this mini trilogy is worth picking up the book for.

A. Gable Massey Learns Some Greek: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

B. What Gable Massey Did After His Wife Left Him: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

C. Gable Massey Makes a Movie: 🌟🌟🌟🌟💫

Definitely recommended to short fiction lovers who would love to read a very different kind of anthology that is, for a change, focussed on men, even if they are idiots. 😉

I hadn’t heard of this indie author before, but now, I’ll make sure I keep an eye out for his works.

3.8 stars, based on the average of my ratings for the individual stories. (If you are familiar with how mathematical averages work, you will know that this is a great average.)

My thanks to author Scott Gould and BookSirens for the DRC of “Idiot Men”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

Content warning: Some of the stories have an animal abuse scene. Though mostly off the page, it could still be somewhat triggering to animal lovers. There are other milder triggers such as infidelity.