by Mary Brooks ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 10, 2014
Tackles a variety of subjects with curiosity and grace; a bit too short, though.
Australian author Brooks (Mary Lives, 2014) explores the triumphs and sorrows of daily life in this collection of stories.
This collection examines the vagaries of the human condition through a variety of narrative voices. “Togetherness” explores the unrequited love of a college student named Lisa for her closest childhood friend, Gary. A broken arm leads a woman named Jeannie on a voyage of self-discovery in “The Gym.” The strongest stories deal with more challenging subject matter. In the gripping and compelling “Catharsis,” a young woman named Christine attempts to cope with a rape as its aftermath leads her down a dark path of self-destruction. In “Heartbreak,” Brooks creates a poignant portrait of loving parents trying to save their son from his addictions while they raise his children. Brooks adeptly balances the dark tone of these stories with several lighthearted ones that showcase her talent for observing the minutiae of daily life, its joys and troubles. A Cub Scout fundraiser is the focus of breezy “Sausages Sizzling,” while in “United Nations,” a disparate group of tourists on a hiking tour share a common love of travel and adventure. Brooks’ conversational style may give readers the sense of eavesdropping; also her keen sense of whimsy is on full display in the comical “Deserted Island,” which relates the tale of Ian, a fisherman who dozes off while on a trip and wakes up on a deserted island miles from his destination. In this story, nature becomes a second character and Brooks lovingly describes the beauty of Ian’s surroundings: “Looking inland he saw a forest of tall grasses, over two metres tall, with frayed, fluttery fern-like tops.” The collection’s chief weakness is its brevity. Because these stories offer but brief glimpses into the characters’ lives, Brooks can only skim the surface of deeper insight into her characters and their motivations.
Tackles a variety of subjects with curiosity and grace; a bit too short, though.Pub Date: June 10, 2014
ISBN: 978-1499006841
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Xlibris
Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Share your opinion of this book
More by Mary Brooks
BOOK REVIEW
by Mary Brooks
by Russell Banks ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 12, 2013
Old-fashioned short fiction: honest, probing and moving.
One of America’s great novelists (Lost Memory of Skin, 2011, etc.) also writes excellent stories, as his sixth collection reminds readers.
Don’t expect atmospheric mood poems or avant-garde stylistic games in these dozen tales. Banks is a traditionalist, interested in narrative and character development; his simple, flexible prose doesn’t call attention to itself as it serves those aims. The intricate, not necessarily permanent bonds of family are a central concern. The bleak, stoic “Former Marine” depicts an aging father driven to extremes because he’s too proud to admit to his adult sons that he can no longer take care of himself. In the heartbreaking title story, the death of a beloved dog signals the final rupture in a family already rent by divorce. Fraught marriages in all their variety are unsparingly scrutinized in “Christmas Party,” Big Dog” and “The Outer Banks." But as the collection moves along, interactions with strangers begin to occupy center stage. The protagonist of “The Invisible Parrot” transcends the anxieties of his hard-pressed life through an impromptu act of generosity to a junkie. A man waiting in an airport bar is the uneasy recipient of confidences about “Searching for Veronica” from a woman whose truthfulness and motives he begins to suspect, until he flees since “the only safe response is to quarantine yourself.” Lurking menace that erupts into violence features in many Banks novels, and here, it provides jarring climaxes to two otherwise solid stories, “Blue” and “The Green Door.” Yet Banks quietly conveys compassion for even the darkest of his characters. Many of them (like their author) are older, at a point in life where options narrow and the future is uncomfortably close at hand—which is why widowed Isabel’s fearless shucking of her confining past is so exhilarating in “SnowBirds,” albeit counterbalanced by her friend Jane’s bleak acceptance of her own limited prospects.
Old-fashioned short fiction: honest, probing and moving.Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-185765-2
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Ecco/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 31, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2013
Share your opinion of this book
More by Russell Banks
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
by Louis L’Amour ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 11, 1999
Superb stylist L’Amour returns (End of the Drive, 1997, etc.), albeit posthumously, with ten stories never seen before in book form—and narrated in his usual hard-edged, close-cropped sentences, jutting up from under fierce blue skies. This is the first of four collections of L’Amour material expected from Bantam, edited by his daughter Angelique, featuring an eclectic mix of early historicals and adventure stories set in China, on the high seas, and in the boxing ring, all drawing from the author’s exploits as a carnival barker and from his mysterious and sundry travels. During this period, L’Amour was trying to break away from being a writer only of westerns. Also included is something of an update on Angelique’s progress with her father’s biography: i.e., a stunningly varied list of her father’s acquaintances from around the world whom she’d like to contact for her research. Meanwhile, in the title story here, a missionary’s daughter who crashes in northern Asia during the early years of the Sino-Japanese War is taken captive by a nomadic leader and kept as his wife for 15 years, until his death. When a plane lands, she must choose between taking her teenaged son back to civilization or leaving him alone with the nomads. In “By the Waters of San Tadeo,” set on the southern coast of Chile, Julie Marrat, whose father has just perished, is trapped in San Esteban, a gold field surrounded by impassable mountains, with only one inlet available for anyone’s escape. “Meeting at Falmouth,” a historical, takes place in January 1794 during a dreadful Atlantic storm: “Volleys of rain rattled along the cobblestones like a scattering of broken teeth.” In this a notorious American, unnamed until the last paragraph, helps Talleyrand flee to America. A master storyteller only whets the appetite for his next three volumes.
Pub Date: May 11, 1999
ISBN: 0-553-10963-4
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Bantam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1999
Share your opinion of this book
More by Louis L’Amour
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Hey there, book lover.
We’re glad you found a book that interests you!
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Don’t fret. We’ll find you.