I can usually get the hang of a collection's style by the time I get halfway through it, but this one has a strange shapeshifting quality I really haven't seen before. Everything feels new compared to the thing before it (but also, it all goes together?). These stories remind me of Kelly Link's stuff ("Clearing" reminds me so much of "Origin Story"), though this is less fantasy and more actual science with a particular focus on the body. I also want to compare it to George Saunders' stuff, too -- there is an attention to the depths of relationships between people, and some stories have this minimalist quality -- but the humor is much less of the silly, light, almost throwaway kind I associate with Saunders. It is much sharper, much smarter, much more meaningful.

"Body, Etc." and "Startled Poet Who is a Bat" were my favorites. I was also fond of "Goat Sucker." The former is brilliant all the way through, and the dialogue form with the changing names was particularly compelling. "Startled Poet Who is a Bat" has a one-paragraph turn that is as concise as it is gutting, and there is a foreboding via play with time that I really liked. All of this is very sharp, though, and often contains a lot of depth in its observations.