Refund: Stories

By Karen E. Bender

This collection of stories set in contemporary America--a finalist for the National Book Award--herald a work of singular literary merit by an important writer at the height of her power.

We think about it every day, sometimes every hour: Money. Who has it. Who doesn't. How you get it. How you don't.

In Refund, Bender creates an award-winning collection of stories that deeply explore the ways in which money and the estimation of value affect the lives of her characters. The stories in Refund reflect our contemporary world--swindlers, reality show creators, desperate artists, siblings, parents--who try to answer the question: What is the real definition of worth?

In "Theft," an eighty-year-old swindler, accustomed to tricking people for their money, boards a cruise ship to see if she can find something of true value--a human connection. In "Anything for Money," the creator of a reality show is thrown into the real world when his estranged granddaughter reenters his life in need of a new heart; and in the title story, young artist parents in downtown Manhattan escape the attack on 9/11 only to face a battle over their subletted apartment with a stranger who might have lost more than only her deposit.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Jan 1, 2015
• ISBN: 9781619025011

Reviews for Refund

[thealtereggo · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

"Refund: Stories" compiles thirteen unique short stories centered around narrators who are struggling in some way, most often with financial difficulties and trying to make ends meet. Almost all the narrators, save one, are women who are unhappy with how their lives have turned out. Overall, I liked this book. I initially only read it to review for a blog, but it was an interesting read. Bender has a refreshingly honest perspective on how people really are in their daily lives and how they react to different challenges. I could see some people viewing this book as a bit pessimistic at times, but I find that the stories more often than not showed a real beauty in the human condition. My only real complaint is that I would've liked to see a bit more diversity among the narrators, as mentioned, they were mostly women, which is fine, but over half the stories were about white women who were married and had 1 or 2 kids.

[nivramkoorb · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book was a national book award finalist and she has just come out with a new book so I thought I would read this. The subject matter for the most part of these short stories revolved around money and all the attending issues. It mainly deals with women narrators who are struggling with family issues that revolve around their kids, money, work, bad marriages etc. Overall it is not a happy book but it was very creative and the writing was excellent. Because 2-3 of the stories did not work for me, I did not rate it higher. However if all of the stories had the quality of the best ones then I would have rated this a 5 star. Short stories are not for everyone because they tend to have no real conclusions in many cases. Because you can pick and choose the stories here, this is definitely a worthwhile read. I will check out her new book.