A fine collection of memorable stories with a delicately surreal edge.
Short stories haunted by the longings of their connection-starved characters but mediated by the wry intelligence of their narrators.
In this latest collection of tales that previously appeared in literary magazines, Appel (Einstein’s Beach House, 2015, etc.)—a physician, attorney, and bioethicist—presents characters who feel stuck in isolation, their despair often masked by a scrim of absurdity. The title piece begins with an Appel trademark, a bravura opening line that’s like a map to the whole story: “Zïgfrids Imants Lenc did not have a name on his home planet, because names were superfluous, but in Lummings, Alabama, where he operated the Latvian restaurant opposite the abortion clinic, his regulars called him Red Ziggy.” Like many Appel characters, Ziggy feels alienated (in this case, literally) and unable to tell the complete truth. His mission is only to observe—but he pursues Erin, a lovely young abortion protestor, anyway; he remembers his home planet’s proverb, “A lonely tree bends to all winds.” This invention has the instant ring of truth, a mark of Appel’s skill in distilling experience into poetic images. Loss and waste preoccupy these characters: one mourns “the tragic mire” of an orchard’s “crushed windfall fruit”; another, “the number of stories that perish unheard.” Loneliness can blind them from seeing how they treat their desired one as a prize to win—a stance that justifies all manner of evasions and deceptions. Loneliness can also lead to self-pity, to which Appel’s characters are prone, though they express it with sophistication. “Adolescent heartbreak shouldn’t be underestimated,” maintains one character, and it’s a credo that’s taken to extremes in “Phoebe with Impending Frost.” In that tale, a climatologist is rejected by a now-married woman on whom he had a crush in high school, and the coldness bears direct comparison to catastrophic global cooling: “we will manage to endure it, convincing ourselves that life could not be any other way.” In the hands of another writer, this might have seemed like melodrama, but Appel’s sure touch instead draws out the emotional truth.
A fine collection of memorable stories with a delicately surreal edge.Pub Date: June 30, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-62557-933-1
Page Count: 155
Publisher: Black Lawrence Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 4, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
In more ways than one, a tale about young creatures testing their wings; a moving, entertaining winner.
A fifth-grade New Orleans girl discovers a mysterious chrysalis containing an unexpected creature in this middle-grade novel.
Jacquelyn Marie Johnson, called Jackie, is a 10-year-old African-American girl, the second oldest and the only girl of six siblings. She’s responsible, smart, and enjoys being in charge; she likes “paper dolls and long division and imagining things she had never seen.” Normally, Jackie has no trouble obeying her strict but loving parents. But when her potted snapdragon acquires a peculiar egg or maybe a chrysalis (she dubs it a chrysalegg), Jackie’s strong desire to protect it runs up against her mother’s rule against plants in the house. Jackie doesn’t exactly mean to lie, but she tells her mother she needs to keep the snapdragon in her room for a science project and gets permission. Jackie draws the chrysalegg daily, waiting for something to happen as it gets larger. When the amazing creature inside breaks free, Jackie is more determined than ever to protect it, but this leads her further into secrets and lies. The results when her parents find out are painful, and resolving the problem will take courage, honesty, and trust. Dumas (Jaden Toussaint, the Greatest: Episode 5, 2017, etc.) presents a very likable character in Jackie. At 10, she’s young enough to enjoy playing with paper dolls but has a maturity that even older kids can lack. She’s resourceful, as when she wants to measure a red spot on the chrysalegg; lacking calipers, she fashions one from her hairpin. Jackie’s inward struggle about what to obey—her dearest wishes or the parents she loves—is one many readers will understand. The book complicates this question by making Jackie’s parents, especially her mother, strict (as one might expect to keep order in a large family) but undeniably loving and protective as well—it’s not just a question of outwitting clueless adults. Jackie’s feelings about the creature (tender and responsible but also more than a little obsessive) are similarly shaded rather than black-and-white. The ending suggests that an intriguing sequel is to come.
In more ways than one, a tale about young creatures testing their wings; a moving, entertaining winner.Pub Date: Nov. 11, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943169-32-0
Page Count: 212
Publisher: Plum Street Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A YA novel that treats its subject and its readers with respect while delivering an engaging story.
In the ninth book in the Bluford young-adult series, a young Latino man walks away from violence—but at great personal cost.
In a large Southern California city, 16-year-old Martin Luna hangs out on the fringes of gang life. He’s disaffected, fatherless and increasingly drawn into the orbit of the older, rougher Frankie. When a stray bullet kills Martin’s adored 8-year-old brother, Huero, Martin seems to be heading into a life of crime. But Martin’s mother, determined not to lose another son, moves him to another neighborhood—the fictional town of Bluford, where he attends the racially diverse Bluford High. At his new school, the still-grieving Martin quickly makes enemies and gets into trouble. But he also makes friends with a kind English teacher and catches the eye of Vicky, a smart, pretty and outgoing Bluford student. Martin’s first-person narration supplies much of the book’s power. His dialogue is plain, but realistic and believable, and the authors wisely avoid the temptation to lard his speech with dated and potentially embarrassing slang. The author draws a vivid and affecting picture of Martin’s pain and confusion, bringing a tight-lipped teenager to life. In fact, Martin’s character is so well drawn that when he realizes the truth about his friend Frankie, readers won’t feel as if they are watching an after-school special, but as though they are observing the natural progression of Martin’s personal growth. This short novel appears to be aimed at urban teens who don’t often see their neighborhoods portrayed in young-adult fiction, but its sophisticated characters and affecting story will likely have much wider appeal.
A YA novel that treats its subject and its readers with respect while delivering an engaging story.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2004
ISBN: 978-1591940173
Page Count: 152
Publisher: Townsend Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 26, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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