Last One Out Shut Off the Lights (by Stephanie Soileau)

My Rating:  3.5 stars

Last One Out Shut Off the Lights is an interesting collection of short stories, all set in Louisiana, and featuring ordinary people going about their everyday lives.  The various protagonists in these stories range from teenagers to senior citizens, and through their voices, we get a glimpse of what life is like living in the type of last-chance town where things always feel as though they are in a constant state of flux.  The setting looms large in these stories, and in many ways, can be considered a character in and of itself, lending a hugely atmospheric nature that serves as a backdrop to each story.  

Of course, as is usually the case with short story collections, some were hits and some were misses, though all shared the common feelings of incompleteness and lack of closure to them.  With that said, I did like how all the stories explored issues of identity and belonging in ways both subtle and obvious — but most significantly, each story felt realistic and relatable in some manner. One of the things that struck me after I finished reading was how "ambivalence" could manifest itself in such varied ways — a sentiment that the author, Stephanie Soileau, demonstrated in a masterful way through the very different characters in each of the stories.  

Overall, I enjoyed this collection, even though I wasn't necessarily able to resonate with each character or with each story.  The many blurbs for this collection describe the stories as striking, fierce, evocative, empathetic, engaging — I agree with all of these, though I would also add "cleverly and thoughtfully" written, as each story gave me pause and made me ponder, in a way that I wasn't expecting.  I also learned a lot about Louisiana  — a state that I knew little to nothing about outside of the city of New Orleans being located there and also what had been in the news about Hurricane Katrina.  This is a collection I definitely recommend, a worthwhile read that I'm glad to have discovered (this was Jesmyn Ward's July pick for her book club on Literati).  It's also a relatively short read, but one that doesn't skimp on details in its depiction of Louisiana life and culture.