Book Review: Get in Trouble

By Kayla Vetter

​I normally never read horror/sci-fi books. I’m terrified of them actually. So, Get in Trouble was a very interesting read for me. I ended up finding it quite enjoyable. Kelly Link really has a gift for writing about modern day lives twisted into a sci-fi magic filled world. Each story is filled with a different subject matter all relating to broken love, magic, and paranormal activity in some form. In each story, the reader goes on an adventure. A unique adventure.

Kelly Link has written may books over the years. Get in Trouble is her newest book, written in 2016. The collection of stories are pieces from other books put together into one book. Ms. Link is the cofounder of Small Beer Press. A few of her stories have been published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, The Best American Short Stories, and Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards. She is also the recipient of a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. So, she’s kind of a big deal. Her work shows that. The stories literally speak for themselves. I didn’t feel like I was reading them. I felt like I was living them! When Ms. Link isn’t conquering the world through her writing she resides in Northampton, Massachusetts with her husband and daughter.   

The collection throughout this book deals with magic and journey with the main character. In her first story “The Summer People,” Link takes you on a journey with Fran. A teenager who is not permitted to leave the grounds of her town. An alcoholic father who takes off to be with Jesus. Ophelia, who is a lonely rich high society teenager and only friend to Fran. Then there are the Summer People, who are not your typical summer people. They live up the road from Fran in a unique living space, a two-story house with moss as the carpet. The Summer People have a unique trade creating magical toys for Fran. The Monkey Egg, is described as a one-of-a-kind toy with “two pincerlike legs and a scorpion tail made of figured brass shot out of the bottom hemisphere.” “The top of the hemisphere opened, and two arms wriggled out and reached up” (Link 13). The egg is magical. Fran also contains the capability to see into the future. She also processes a tent with two views, the present and the future. During Fran’s encounter with the flu, Ophelia takes on the task of getting help from the Summer People which will change her future forever.  
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The Summer People was probably my favorite story I read. It’s magical, visually colorful, and adventurous. The only thing I hate is the ending. The ending made me mad and had me question Fran. What kind of friend was Fran? What happened to Ophelia? Did Fran screw her over? But I’ll let you decide when you pick up the story and read it for yourself.

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