So I read this one for a college course. Not bad, not bad at all. I think all of the stories were very creative and very witty. Though my favorite had to be the first; Teenage Sniper. But all of them were very interesting. I enjoyed how Johnson expirmented with different points of view (1st, 2nd, & 3rd person) and I enjoyed how he took such out there topics like creating a death ray and made it seem so normal.

Haunting, terrifying, incredibly human and gorgeous stories. Possibly the most solid start-to-finish collection of short stories I've ever read.

I had a wonderful literary experience attending the Orcas Island Lit Festival last weekend. Adam Johnson was one of the talented authors I had a chance to hear interviewed. I have read [b:The Orphan Master's Son|11529868|The Orphan Master's Son|Adam Johnson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327878601s/11529868.jpg|16467838] and [b:Fortune Smiles|23590496|Fortune Smiles|Adam Johnson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1446423824s/23590496.jpg|43193279], so I purchased Emporium for the signing and to read and enjoy his early work. One of the best features of the collection was the variety which kept my interest and showed the range of writing ability Johnson has to offer. At the festival, he told a story of his early life going to the zoo with his father who had a night job there. One of the stories in the book told this story in a different way and it was my favorite of the collection. The voice of Johnson’s storytelling ability came through loud and clear!

An eclectic collection of stories that are as clever as they are affecting. Johnson seems like a talent to watch.

I found this collection slow and self-regarding. Other people might love them, but the stories seemed inconclusive and a bit pointless. Perhaps that is indicative of the lives of the characters/society, but it seemed like classic MFA in creative writing style and the twists felt gimmicky.

More Saunders-esce then I had expected based on his other collection and novels.

Actual rating: 2.5 stars.

OK, to say that I was ambivalent about this collection is a bit of an understatement. Like with any typical short story collection, you start seeing some of the same things pop up each time. With Johnson, it's zany yet oddly flat characters and ridiculously detailed arrays of weaponry/high tech for some reason. With certain stories, I couldn't help but think this collection is just the perfect example of an author writing for people who think like him, all in this hipster little niche of "oh, look how clever we are."

Which is a shame, because with one of my favorite stories here, "Teen Sniper", the collection showed some promise. But, honestly, none of the other stories quite rivaled it. A couple, "The Canadanaut" and "The Death-Dealing Cassini Satellite" , came close, but that was about it.

I feel like Johnson tended to stick to the same template for his main characters, most of them guys. The one time he did write from a female narrator's point of view was pretty abysmal, in my opinion, if not outright cringeworthy.

So...it's great for one story and then...eh.

This was not my favorite collection of short stories, but there were a couple that stuck with me. Cliff Gods of Acapulco and The Canadanaut were my favorite.