I don't mean to penalize the book for doing what it was trying to do, which was—in my eyes, at least—exploring different varieties of discomfort. There are 100 names for love, or whatever, so why shouldn't a collection of stories look at all the ways you can want to leave the room, look away, yank someone out of a spiraling situation, or just flinch? From aggressively provocative new spouses to now-grown high school bullies to an awkward threesome to literal torture, Bissell knows how to set a scene to make a reader uncomfortable. And I was, throughout. The writing is good, the scenarios are imaginative, and often the stories' payoffs are interesting—I didn't put the book down, which speaks to all of the above. But man, I definitely thought about it a few times—this is not a collection that cuts the reader any slack. ( )

Thanks to NetGalley for my ARC.

Creative Types is the perfect three day weekend read because you can blow through it all in that time or less. This collection of stories by Tom Bissell is entertaining and if you have worked in the creative field where you daily interact with: lead designers, junior designers, producers, creative directors, executive creative director west coast ad infinitum then the stories and plot lines and characters just might jive with you. At times the stories are cringey and from my experience in the field of advertising agencies and the like it is just that world - that world the workplace and sort of person it makes you for a while is what these stories embody. This was the case for me at least possibly I am just putting too much of my own experience into it all and likely so.

Creative Types are in the end not all that creative. The magic that, at least Americans, embody creative-ness make it seem like the lives and thoughts and actions of the creative person are more interesting than your live or at least more fun. Tom Bissell goes at length to make it clear that this is not the case and in fact the characters and sometimes stories are dull and flat and the characters do offensive things. This said some stories are hard to trudge through they are seemingly bent to repel the reader in some way to distance you from the story itself. These stories have the effect of drawing you in and also giving you the cold shoulder. Is this bad? I do not think so; it does however require patience from the reader. It seems to be a comment on the creative industry and its 'culture' or at least the sort of people it attracts and what those people bring out of each other.

I recommend this as a quick blast through it read. It is somewhat like watching an anthology film by different directors. The effect it had on me was similar to watching a movie like the 1995 comedy anthology Four Rooms. Not bad but not great. This said I will say that Creative Types was a off-kilter peek into the lives of people in the creative industry that will keep you engaged its aftereffect is akin to the hours it takes to create a tv commercial spot and the few second it takes to consume and then either remember it or remember it incorrectly. Like the Steve Martin Martin Short netflix special its a [book] you will forget for the rest of your life. All to say you will remember the stories in this collection but you are not going to remember them correctly and that is the weird effect Bissell has brought to this collection.

Creative times is wildly and offensively interesting this is the collection you need to read while you anxiously await reentering the world at large. I cant wait for the next thing form Tom Bissell. ( )