Creator of the hit Netflix series BoJack Horseman, Raphael Bob-Waksberg makes his short fiction debut with sidesplitting panache. It's perhaps unsurprising that a writer whose major cultural contribution is an animated dramedy about a talking horse living in a hallucinatory version of Hollywood would excel in realms of the absurd. And Someone Who Will Love You in All Your Damaged Glory has absurdity to spare.
After a few pages of throat clearing, the story collection hits its stride with "A Most Blessed and Auspicious Occasion." Dorothy and Peter are planning their wedding, only to be met at every turn by the intrusive opinions of others--such as for where to buy candles (Rite Aid) and how many goats to sacrifice to the Stone God (at least 38). Moreover, Peter's brother explains, "You have to do the slaughtering at the end, otherwise you're going to slip in goat guts while you're doing the Dance of the Cuckolded Woodland Sprite and the blood will get all over your marriage cloak and the video will end up on one of those wedding fail blogs."
Other standouts include the long, awkward silence of "Missed Connection--m4w" and the unlikely superheroes of "Up-and-Comers." Bob-Waksberg writes with an obsessive attention to detail that lends itself well to comedic timing, though his characters' voices blur together on occasion. Nevertheless, his knack for revealing the ludicrous in patient micro-doses carries the reader through an exceptionally inventive uncanny valley in this hilarious, if uneven, collection. --Dave Wheeler, associate editor, Shelf Awareness