Life and Other Shortcomings: Stories

2021 IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award: Finalist in Cover Design: Small Format, Fiction

2020 American Fiction Awards: Winner in Short Story

2020 Best Book Awards Finalist

Included in 2020's Best Beach Reads by Parade

"Featuring 12 stories about women in various cities and eras, each share a connection to one another. And you're along for the journey as they reveal certain truths about the female experience. It's an anthem, and also a cry for a change."

-Parade, "20 Classic and New Books About Feminism"

"A compelling collection that captures the mystery and menace beneath love and family life."

--Kirkus Reviews

"I'm in love with this book. It is just so good. It's real and definitely something that makes you feel like you've been heard and you have a friend."

--Ann Garvin, Founder of Tall Poppy Writers and USA Today best-selling author of I Thought You Said This Would Work, I Like You Just Fine When You're Not Around, The Dog Year, and On Maggie's Watch

"Corie Adjmi has a flair for dramatizing scenes. She homes in on the killer moment, and her dialogue is so honest that I was cringing at times . . . It is just so vivid. "

--Susan Breen, author of The Fiction Class

"Corie Adjmi's stories are sharply written, unsparing, and spot-on. With wisdom and humanity, Life and Other Shortcomings plumbs the mysteries of adult life: the menacing underside of love, the protean nature of grief, and the baffling difficulty of staying true to ourselves and the things we value most. Assured in her storytelling, Adjmi writes with force and perception. Her stories are a must-read."

--Elyssa Friedland, author of The Floating Feldmans and The Intermission and Love and Miss Communication

"Pitch perfect and very haunting, Life and Other Shortcomings is a true delight. Adjmi's interlocking stories are as funny as they are tragic. Her characters are so real and relatable, you'll find yourself rooting for them, even as they get into trouble. Adjmi is a great new talent."

--Alison Espach, author of The Adults

"All that glitters is not gold in Corie Adjmi's wonderful short story collection Life and Other Shortcomings. Adjmi exposes the fear, envy, and yearning that simmer just beneath the surface of her characters' beautiful lives. Her writing is both elegant and powerful. I was hooked from the first page to the last."

--Ellen Sussman, New York Times best-selling author of four novels, A Wedding in Provence, The Paradise Guest House, French Lessons and On a Night Like This

"Among the women of these sto-ries are duti-ful house-wives, devout-ly reli-gious women, inse-cure teenagers, and many oth-er col-or-ful char-ac-ters. Pop culture references peppered throughout - including nostalgic callbacks to Dr.Scholl's sandals, Swanson's Frozen Dinners, Star Trek, and The Brady Bunch --only add to the realism and heart of the book. These stories are full of drama, humor, descriptive language, and insight, and they make for a very enjoyable read. Adjmi subtly, but so perceptively, unfolds the characters' private fears, hopes, and dreams, zeroing in on how a single experience or event can change a life."

--Jewish Book Council

"Twelve accounts bear witness to the female experience, and how the choices we make