When I read short story anthologies, I usually review and comment on each story separately. It isn’t worth the time or effort to do so this time. I took a chance on The Pelican Child entirely based on its name and the beautiful cover, and I was looking to read some short stories as a palate cleanser. What I had hoped would be a pleasant, charming set of stories turned out to be a soulless slog. I can’t think of the last time reading so little felt like it demanded so much. The stories in this book are full of miserable people being unkind and cynical while very little of interest happens. If you enjoy spending time in nursing homes and gross motels with the sick, the dying, the suicidal, the cynical, and the entitled, then maybe vignettes are for you.
When I got to the final story in the book, the titular “Baba Iaga & The Pelican Child” I was pleasantly surprised that there was finally a sprinkle of narrative and fantasy, but even then the story just devolves into randomness. Willaims’ stories tend to just zig-zag all over the place and trick you into thinking there’s some hidden meaning beneath all the grumbling. If there is, I really didn’t see it.
The Once and Future Lit 