RobAroundBooks» 100 Shots of Short

Shot of Short #59: Cicada Cadence, Katie Didn’t by Craig Davis

Rob — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 21:47:09 +0000

Title: Cicada Cadence, Katie Didn’t by Craig Davis
Date Read: 27 January 2010
Available Online?: YES (as one of the stories posted by Harper Perennial on their website Fifty-Two Stories, which promises a new (or classic) short story from their collection, posted every week throughout 2010).
Briefly: Two men in a bar reminiscence on their youth, sharing stories that have a unique and linked ‘memory peg’ – the cicacda and its seventeen year hatching cycle
Afterthoughts: Poetic and well-written this story may well be but for me it was overly poetic – too opulent in its prose – and for that reason I didn’t find this an easy story to engage with.
Notable Quote: The whole world was folded up in the noise of cicadas buckling their bellies. These were the Brood 4 hatch. They came when rap music was still wonderful and I was young and J. Ray my friend was part of the pulse of night.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

*Story read as part of my 100 Shots of Short reading challenge.

Shot of Short #58: Belinda by Amity Gaige

Rob — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 21:46:58 +0000

Title: Belinda by Amity Gaige
Date Read: 27 January 2010
Available Online?: YES (as one of the stories posted by Harper Perennial on their website Fifty-Two Stories, which promises a new (or classic) short story from their collection, posted every week throughout 2010).
Briefly: The story follows Karin as she progresses through a number of unsuccessful marriages. It’s a story which not only explores Karin’s relationship with the men she chooses to marry, but also (probably more so), the relationship she has with each newly-adopted family.
Afterthoughts: Every now and then a story comes along and it just goes right over my head. Unfortunately, Belinda seems to be one of them. I get that Karin’s relationship with each extended family has some bearing on each marriage itself. And I get how beautiful, deep and searching Gaige’s prose is. But for me that’s about as far as I seem to get with it. A real shame because I can feel the very essence of Gaige’s literary talent reaching out to try and grab me. Maybe a different story on a different day would work out better.
Notable Quote: Despite the fact that she did not see her in-laws more than a half a dozen times a year, Karin thought of them often. They occupied a disproportionate space in her mind. She sent her mother-in-law postcards with irreverent photographs. She thought long and hard about a gift that would amuse the sister, or flatter the father. When shopping for her own clothes, she unconsciously chose things her in-laws might compliment.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

*Story read as part of my 100 Shots of Short reading challenge.

Shot of Short #57: Killer Heart by Barb Johnson

Rob — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 20:14:59 +0000

Title: Killer Heart by Barb Johnson
Date Read: 06 December 2009
Available Online?: YES (as one of the stories posted by Harper Perennial on their website Fifty-Two Stories, which promises a new (or classic) short story from their collection, posted every week throughout 2009).
Briefly: While taking a break from the marriage in order to sort a few things out, Dooley heads to the mall with his daughter to buy her new shoes. Irritated by the badly designed car seat, Dooley spots the perfect car seat in a shop window. Pulling into the parking lot, his life is about to change forever.
Afterthoughts: In his intro to Killer Heart, Cal Morgan hails the collection that this story is taken from as being ‘one of the most astounding collections of the year.’ Well, if this story is anything to go by, then I wholeheartedly agree with Cal; such is the quality of this story. It’s gritty. It’s engaging. And ultimately it’s despairing; the kind of story that sticks in the head for a long time. It’s always a pleasure to discover a new (to me) and exciting writer, and in Barb Johnson it doesn’t seem to get much more exciting.
Notable Quote: Dooley lifts his squirming daughter—Toby Tidwell’s daughter? Impossible—into the car seat, which seems to have worked loose from the seat belt that is meant to hold it in place. Why has Tina put up with this piece of shit for so long? Dooley puts Gracie back in the foot well and struggles to rethread the seat belt. Sweat soaks his shirt while he fumbles with the clasps of the pain-in-the-ass seat.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

*Story read as part of my 100 Shots of Short reading challenge.

Shot of Short #56: The Enchanted Bluff by Willa Cather

Rob — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 08:03:46 +0000

Title: The Enchanted Bluff by Willa Cather
Date Read: 06 December 2009
Available Online?: YES (as one of the stories posted by Harper Perennial on their website Fifty-Two Stories, which promises a new (or classic) short story from their collection, posted every week throughout 2009).
Briefly: Presented in the first person, the narrator reminisces on a boyhood camping trip where one of the boys, Tip, relates the story of Enchanted Bluff, a place ‘awful far away’ down in New Mexico.
Afterthoughts: This is the second Cather tale I’ve read courtesy of Fifty-Two Stories, and I found it to be infinitely better than the first. Aside from the story dwelling on the warm, carefree days of youth, the main focus plays on the concept of boyhood dreams that, for one reason or another, are never realised. Warming and very readable.
Notable Quote: Next week the other boys were to file back to their old places in the Sandtown High School, but I was to go up to the Divide to teach my first country school in the Norwegian district. I was already homesick at the thought of quitting the boys with whom I had always played; of leaving the river, and going up into a windy plain that was all windmills and cornfields and big pastures; where there was nothing wilful or unmanageable in the landscape, no new islands, and no chance of unfamiliar birds—such as often followed the watercourses.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

*Story read as part of my 100 Shots of Short reading challenge.

Shot of Short #55: 1647 Ocean Front Walk by Dan Fante

Rob — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:02:33 +0000

Title: 1647 Ocean Front Walk by Dan Fante
Date Read: 04 November 2009
Available Online?: YES (as one of the stories posted by Harper Perennial on their website Fifty-Two Stories, which promises a new (or classic) short story from their collection, posted every week throughout 2009).
Briefly: Depressed at a lengthy bout of ‘writer’s block’, LA writer Bruno works to forget (and survive), by driving a taxicab. Already struggling with the mechanical problems of an aged cab, Bruno’s day is about to get a whole lot worse (or is it?), when he picks up Mrs. Randolph and her daughter Sydney.
Afterthoughts: Cue the victory music! Crack out the party poppers! This story score full marks and for good reason. It’s absolutely fantastic. Gritty, raw and incredibly engaging, this story hits the ground bleeding and stays that way until the very end when a shocking climax puts the cherry on top of a very tasty ‘cake’. This is the first time I’ve read anything from Dan Fante (son of the great John Fante) and it certainly won’t be the last. I love him already! Is that recommendation enough to go and read this story? Then please go away and do so! You seriously won’t regret it.
Notable Quote: I’d diagnosed myself as too fucked-up to write, and made the decision to give it up completely except for the poetry I jotted down while in my cab. Everything else that I’d put on paper—each new attempt at a novel or short story—was a lie. False. Unredeemable pigshit. Hacking twelve to fifteen hours a day was all that was keeping me alive. That and Shenley’s Reserve whiskey.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

*Story read as part of my 100 Shots of Short reading challenge.

Shot of Short #54: On the Weekends Sometimes by Ben Greenman

Rob — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:02:08 +0000

Title: On the Weekends Sometimes by Ben Greenman
Date Read: 03 November 2009
Available Online?: YES (as one of the stories posted by Harper Perennial on their website Fifty-Two Stories, which promises a new (or classic) short story from their collection, posted every week throughout 2009).
Briefly: Boyd has a good friend called Panos. Panos is married Annie. Boyd likes Annie A LOT, and is more or less single. Panos and Annie seem to be going through a rocky patch in their marriage. Will Boyd succumb to his urges and commit one of the biggest taboos – cheating on a best friend?
Afterthoughts: I rather enjoyed this story. It plays with the whole uneasy situation of falling for a best friend’s wife, and the underlying awkwardness that this brings about. I won’t tell you if Boyd and Annie do or don’t in the end. You’ll just have to read it for yourself. One other thing I did like about On the Weekends Sometimes, aside from its storyline, is the structure that Greenman employs in creating it. He uses short punchy sentences throughout – much like I’ve tried to replicate in my description of the story above (I know I failed miserably) – and it really drives the reader along, in a unique way. Clever storytelling
Notable Quote: The first time that Boyd met Annie, he knew how he felt about her. Boyd was in love with Annie.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

*Story read as part of my 100 Shots of Short reading challenge.

Shot of Short #53: Beneath All That Bone by Jess Walter

Rob — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:01:34 +0000

Title: Beneath All That Bone by Jess Walter
Date Read: 03 November 2009
Available Online?: YES (as one of the stories posted by Harper Perennial on their website Fifty-Two Stories, which promises a new (or classic) short story from their collection, posted every week throughout 2009).
Briefly: Witnessing a particularly traumatic road accident on the freeway, Nate and Tracy decide to pull into a motel to reflect and spend some ‘private time’ with one another. At first all seems well, but there is more to this couple than first meets the eye.
Afterthoughts: This is a really good story, and ingeniously crafted. Rather than following a straightforward chronological narrative, Walter’s mixes it up a bit. A flashback here, a bit of ‘live’ action there, Beneath All that Bone reminded me quite a lot of the story-telling technique used by Tarantino in the movie Pulp Fiction. Clever stuff and superbly engaging all the way to the final full stop.
Notable Quote: The paramedic drove his crossed hands into the woman’s chest; beat after beat rising and falling for her, rising and falling. Nate was surprised at how deeply the man had to push—but of course, the heart lies beneath all that bone. The paramedic would have to nearly flatten the woman to cause her heart to beat, to push blood out to all of those distant points. It would be like working a bellows beneath that casing of bone. And yet it seemed too violent, too rough, this thing he was doing to save the woman

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

*Story read as part of my 100 Shots of Short reading challenge.

Shot of Short #52: If You Eat, You Never Die by Tony Romano

Rob — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 22:42:55 +0000

Title: If You Eat, You Never Die by Tony Romano
Date Read: 15 September 2009
Available Online?: YES (as one of the stories posted by Harper Perennial on their website Fifty-Two Stories, which promises a new (or classic) short story from their collection, posted every week throughout 2009).
Briefly: Coach pops home with Giacomo Cummings to tell his mum (Giacomo’s) that he needs to cut down on his food to make the team. An easy task in theory, but telling an Italian mother that her son can’t eat? Good luck with that Coach!
Afterthoughts: When you serve up as many short stories as Fifty Two Stories have so far (37) it’s difficult to please all of the people all of the time, and this time around I read a short that I didn’t really click with. Don’t get me wrong here. Ramono’s writing ability is exquisite (anyone who can get me verbalising with an accent has got to be talented ), but the story just didn’t really go anywhere for me, other than to show me that language and cultural barriers can make for an amusing tale. If that was Ramono’s intention then he’s succeeded, but I can tell he has the ability to write with more substance. Am I right or am I missing a key point here?
Notable Quote: “I understand most everything. I no stupid. When I come to this country, I say, “Lucia learn English. Nobody cheat Lucia.” So I go to market eh watch. I listen. I understand—no take long. But I no speak perfetto. Giacomo eh my other son, Michael, some a time they come to market. When I talk, they run away togeth eh laugh. They make ashame. So I talk loud.”

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

*Story read as part of my 100 Shots of Short reading challenge.

‘Shot of Short’ #51: The Kitchen Boy by Alaa Al Aswany

Rob — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 22:16:38 +0000

Title: The Kitchen Boy by Alaa Al Aswany
Date Read: 15 September 2009
Available Online?: YES (as one of the stories posted by Harper Perennial on their website Fifty-Two Stories, which promises a new (or classic) short story from their collection, posted every week throughout 2009).
Briefly: After achieving the highest marks possible, following five years at medical school, Hisham happily finds himself appointed as a resident in General Surgery at the el-Qasr el-Aini Hospital. Hisham’s delight soon turns to dismay however, when he is told by the hugely powerful and prestigious Dr. Bassiouni (Chairman of the Department of General Surgery), that he must start at the bottom as the ‘kitchen boy’, before he can even hope of becoming a bone fide surgeon one day.
Afterthoughts: In his introduction to this story Cal Morgan proclaims Alaa Al Aswany to be one of Egypt’s most ‘bold and provocative writers’. And after reading The Kitchen Boy I can see why. The story suggests that there exists fundamental flaws within the Egyptian medical institution, where an ethos of bullying and ‘power tripping’ is very much the norm. That makes it sound as though The Kitchen Boy is nothing more than an all-out political attack, but it’s not really. In his quest to say what he thinks he has to say, Alaa Al Aswany has crafted a delightful little story which has some real highlights, and two superbly crafted characters, namely Dr. Bassiouni and Dr. Mansour.
Notable Quote: ““Your job here is that of the kitchen boy,” said the chairman, breaking out into quick, repeated bursts of laughter and playing with his long sideburns. Hisham was on the verge of laughing too, out of politeness, but fortunately an inner voice warned him against doing so. “Do you know what the kitchen boy is, in the kitchen? He’s the boy who collects the onion peelings and washes down the tiles and gets it in the neck from the cooks. There you have it: the resident in surgery is precisely the kitchen boy in the kitchen.”

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

*Story read as part of my 100 Shots of Short reading challenge.

‘Shot of Short’ #50: Good Girl by Holly Goddard Jones

Rob — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 21:48:21 +0000

Title: Good Girl by Holly Goddard Jones
Date Read: 15 September 2009
Available Online?: YES (as one of the stories posted by Harper Perennial on their website Fifty-Two Stories, which promises a new (or classic) short story from their collection, posted every week throughout 2009).
Briefly: Jacob, still raw from the fairly recent death of his wife Nora, is working towards coming to terms with his loss, while at the same time fighting to keep a parental reign on his son, Tommy. As time progresses Tommy becomes more of a stranger than a son, which only exacerbates Jacob’s feeling of loneliness. This is until someone new comes into Jacob’s life.
Afterthoughts: I seem to have read a lot of these ‘coming to terms with’ stories lately but this was one of the better ones. At just short of 10,000 words it was also one of the longest, but it did feel as though every word were needed. Although gritty, the story also manages to be warm and tender (which was a surprise given its beginning), with a man’s love for his son and his dearly departed wife perhaps producing the greatest source of tenderness in the story. Definitely not the most cunningly or cleverly scripted story in the world, it’s the emotional journey taken by the characters in Good Girl that makes this story a triumph.
Notable Quote: “He reached down to touch the dog, where she would normally have been sleeping beside him, and the emptiness of his life registered in full and aching force. “Nora,” he said, looking at her shadow figure on the old living room couch—head bent over one of the mysteries she loved reading, Agatha Christie or Sue Grafton, dark, shoulder-length hair glinting in the lamplight. She lifted her head at the sound of his voice, took off her glasses, smiled. Her face, the face she wore before the cancer and her death: gentle, intelligent, elegantly lined, like crackled pottery.”

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

*Story read as part of my 100 Shots of Short reading challenge.