You Can’t Get There From Here by Megan Gordon

The collection of short tales and essays You Can’t Get There From Here by Megan Gordon speaks to the myriad struggles we face in life and love. The author takes you into the heads of people going through some of the most difficult phases of their lives, from affairs to discovering themselves.

I found that I needed to read some of the short stories again in order to fully comprehend the author’s use of symbolism and to gain a deeper understanding of the many characters’ perspectives. While reading these short stories, there were times when my heart just pulled and my tears welled up. Even after reading the stories through a second time, I discovered that I preferred them to the first.

I loved reading this book for a variety of reasons. The author does a fantastic job connecting the senses to various feelings and environments. They do a great job of describing the stages of a relationship using our sense of smell. I felt as though I could smell the aromas the author was describing as she turned the pages.

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I particularly like the author’s inventive yet unabashedly honest approach to explaining women’s realities. There were times when I felt relieved that I wasn’t the only one who felt this way. The author did a fantastic job describing some of the more challenging facets of being a woman.

The fact that each narrative sent me to a different mental state and that each mind was so dissimilar from the next is another fantastic feature of these stories. I had the impression that I was experiencing everything the characters were.

It was as though I was reading their journal and getting a glimpse into how they truly felt; it was so open, heartbreaking, and beautiful all at once. Some scenarios were difficult to read because they were so personal, but I liked that I could process and grow with these stories. There wasn’t anything about the book that I could say I didn’t like.

Even though the stories had a similar topic, there were several portions I couldn’t identify to, but that was to be anticipated given how varied the stories were. However, that’s what makes this a terrific read for everyone in that regard. Any reader who wants to learn more about human emotions, relationships, and all the good and evil that can occur within them should read this, in my opinion.

Any reader should be able to relate to at least one narrative or portion of a story, in my opinion. Without any frills, butterflies, or rainbows, these stories examine the human experience in an honest, heartbreaking way. Unquestionably, You Can’t Get There From Here is a must-read!

About The Book

Reckonings, regrets, longings. Life’s turning points. Sometimes redemptive, sometimes heartbreaking, these crossroads are familiar to us all. The yearning for a different path, a better ending, is uniquely human. You Can’t Get There From Here explores these pivotal moments.

In Repossession, we meet a young man looking for closure in his dead girlfriend’s apartment; You Again, Always introduces us to a couple coming together for one last time; and Strange Secrets Worth Knowing follows a man exploring a deadly path to a resolution.

These are times when we’re faced with the consequences of our choices and struggle to find a way forward. Highly poignant and insightful with characters that resonate, this collection is an engrossing journey through some of the most painful, transformative experiences of our lives.