Janet Kwan Kwan itibaren Kosmas itibaren Kosmas

Short stories. Each features a woman who is less than happy with her life - usually sexual relationships and/or drugs are involved to some extent. Many characters have difficulty with power struggles in sexual relationships - either finding the right match for them or coming to terms with what they want to find. There is prostitution involved in a few cases. Most characters live in New York, many went to the University of Michigan. Themes: domination/power in sexual relationships, New York trendy society and its pluses and minuses, relationships in general, women I felt like I was being reintroduced to the same character over and over again in these stories. Female who is reaching her 30's or a little past, college grad (often from Michigan) who moved to NYC, the same relationship and societal struggles. There was the exception of "Heaven" which was told more from the point of view of the mother/aunt of one of these types of characters, which I really enjoyed more. I felt that the cumulative effect of these stories was not there - they didn't seem to offer further enlightenment on the topic as the book went on - they all seemed the same. I think each individual story published on it's own or in an anthology of multiple authors would be interesting, but this book wore on me.