A young waitress recalls clients from her time as a prostitute and feels wonder at a colleague’s unflagging talent for smiles. Though Téa Mutonji’s debut stories are often bite-sized (18 of them in 133 pages), they’re never slight. The stories are absorbing for their matter-of-fact bluntness, where sex work, addiction, and bartering of assorted kinds are all part of getting by. And they’re remarkable as well for searing portraits, where loss and failure jostle with resilience and moving on. Shut Up You’re Pretty is the first book in Vivek Shraya’s VS Books imprint, which will feature emerging work by “young writers who are Indigenous, Black, or a person of colour.”ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW

Source: thestar June 12, 2019 10:52 UTC