“Please Read Me” by Kathryn Sprandio Ells

Please Read Me

Kathryn Sprandio Ells
Independently Published (2023)
ISBN: 979-8856555881
Reviewed by Nadica Terzieva for Reader Views (04/2024)

“Please Read Me” by Kathryn Sprandio Ells is a collection of short stories and poems that explore both girlhood and adulthood as a young woman, and the emotions that come with these ages. The author uses humor throughout the pieces, particularly in the way that she builds emotional experiences only to add a comedic buffer to soften the awkward memories.

Whether biographical or not, each piece follows a different character who experiences the same basic dilemma: trying to authentically be yourself. Through Ells, the reader gets to re-experience the all-too-common awkwardness of the universal experience of one’s first crush in the schoolyard playground. Throughout the collection, she also builds older and more experienced characters. But like the schoolgirl in the playground, they are all just trying to be themselves and learn from their emotions. Throughout this collection, Ells uses these universal experiences to build her stories and try to make them relatable to her readers.

In “Please Read Me” readers not only get to empathize with the characters’ struggles navigating the emotional turmoil of growing up, but they can also enjoy the fresh perspective of a young college student in the late 2000s who is enjoying the excitement of the advent of social media. Many characters are centered around their obsession with the newly minted Facebook. Ells uses the networking site to add a touch of nostalgia to her stories. She reintroduces us to a world where social media was still new and exciting. But even with the different era, through Ells’ creations, we are reminded that getting rejected by your crush on social media has always hurt!

I wish there had been more character development and closure within the pieces as I felt most of them were more like snapshots of scenes rather than short stories. The scenes and characters were interesting but seemed to lack the conflict and resolution that would have strengthened the collection. The stories and poems also stand alone but given that the collection is meant to represent growing up and the protagonists are quite similar to one another, I think the collection misses some transition pieces that tie the stories together.

Overall, “Please Read Me” by Kathryn Sprandio Ells is an interesting collection of stories and poems with relatable protagonists. Readers who are nostalgic for the late 2000s would enjoy this collection as would readers who enjoy coming-of-age stories. The poems are short and easy to digest, while the stories are short with relatable characters. Overall, the collection was an easy, light read.