With Places Like These, Lauren Carter combines her experience of being a youth growing up in Canada with her deeply personal reflections on life, bringing us a collection of short stories that are beautifully detailed and pull on your emotions in a piercing way. In her perfect descriptions of small town life in Canada, Carter emphasizes the mundane and ordinary situations that many of us go through by focusing on the places that encapsulate those moments. From watching a mother and father attempting to track down their addicted and homeless daughter to witnessing a young couple trying to grieve their miscarried child, these short stories leave you with a lasting impression.

With an in-depth focus on the various locations that play a significant part in our lives, Places Like These reflects on each character’s journey and the emotions accompanying them. This collection follows a range of characters of all ages, such as a widowed woman trying to contact her late husband in the title story “Places Like These” and a young teenager who’s confronted with the reality of climate change in “Zombies.” These stories show the complexities of life and human experience by exploring the psychology of their characters and sharing the honest truths that many people encounter every day. Carter’s elegant prose and beautiful descriptions bring these emotional and genuine stories to another level by bringing our attention to the intricate details of the whole situation, instead of just the harsh realities. Everything holds significance; the specific locations, the time of day, even the people involved.

These stories take common scenarios that could happen to anyone, such as going to school or visiting your boyfriend’s family, and explore the difficult moments that we hope never to experience. Reading each story was like diving into someone’s mind, feeling what they’re feeling, and understanding the situation through their eyes. I loved how Carter described each character and situation without it feeling too jarring, especially since each story was so powerful and encompassing. In “Dear Leila, Dear Timothy,” we follow a young couple who’s trying to grieve after a miscarriage. Honestly speaking? I was on the verge of tears the entire time. You start off with Carter’s picturesque descriptions of the beach with the fire the couple made, and you’re easily drawn into their world. But it doesn’t explain everything immediately; it jumps right into the story and you have to put the pieces together yourself, which ultimately makes it more heart-rending when you finally connect the dots. The moment this couple read the letter they had written to their unborn child, I was completely flooded with the emotions that Carter brilliantly displays in such a short number of pages. It felt like Carter was giving each narrative the detail and attention it deserved, really embracing the emotions of the characters and the places, especially since they touch on such harrowing and traumatic events.

While I loved many of these stories and their characters, the first two gave the book a rocky start, making me hesitant to know what would be in store. They appeared confusing and strange, as I didn’t know what I was getting into. The character in “Bones” bounces between her complicated relationship with her troubled step-brother and her dog’s leg injury, honestly making me wonder what was even going on and then leaving it on a cliffhanger as her mother tells her she needs to come home. Then I went straight into “Culture Shock,” where the character travels to Argentina alone and explores a mysterious church, leaving us on another cliffhanger with her surrounded by mysterious creatures. The first story left me somewhat confused about its plot, since it jumped back and forth between the character telling us about her rescued dog and her complicated relationship with her family. And the second story had me questioning whether I’d even like the rest of the book. Since these two stories left a sour taste in my mouth, it took me a while to continue reading, but once I did, I loved the rest of the stories more and more. The order of these stories just didn’t have the desired effect, but I’m glad that things took a turn and drew me back in again.

Places Like These provide stories that showcase the important settings in our lives that we might not recognize at first. I learned to love the deeply emotional stories that Carter so elegantly described because they slowly made me acknowledge the physical locations in this book. Something about her descriptions and her writing perfectly tells these vulnerable stories while focusing on the environment — I can see myself in many of these stories. While some places hold little significance to one person, to another, they hold special memories and meanings. Yes, this collection is emotional and heartbreaking, but it unveils the places that we become connected to. Whether it’s the house your dad used to take you to as a child, the beach where you grieved for your baby, or the room your estranged daughter was staying in, these places represent something special for each character. With a perfect balance between storytelling and attention to detail, Carter brought to life the places that became ingrained in the minds of these characters, showing us the moments these places meant more than just a location. I never considered that the location itself could be so special for someone until I read some of these stories and thought about the places in my life, such as the abandoned park bench at my local beach. Sure, we hear about the restaurant where you first met your husband or the room you were sitting in when you heard some amazing news, but Carter’s awareness of each location in these stories made me think about the places in my life and the memories that are rooted there.

You definitely need a trigger warning to get through this book, as many of these stories display situations that readers either already have or might experience. From complicated family relationships to struggles with health issues, these stories aren’t easy to get through, but instead of focusing on their horrible nature, Carter explores the reactions and emotions that come from them. These stories are a collection of what it means to be human, demonstrating and reflecting on how we feel, an utterly honest depiction of real life. Carter provides us with an opportunity to dive into the psyche of others, allowing us to step outside of our own minds and see another perspective. In a world where everyone is so quick to judge and hate, this book reminds us of how similar we all are. People like to focus on the aspects of ourselves that make us different, instead of the things that make us all alike and Places Like These speaks against that, pushing us to consider the moments of connection that can come from vulnerable situations. While you and I may have lived very different lives, we can still connect over the small moments that make us the same.