Yes. You know how much they think of you. Well, I think a lot of them too. But they never say much, do they? They never say much to me. You don’t let people, Daddy. You never have. You think that’s what it is? Yes, I do. Well. I don’t know about that. I couldn’t say. -Lorraine speaking to her father It is the beginning of summer but the end of Dad Lewis’ life. As per ... Read More...
The Dinner: A Novel
Dinner out at a nice restaurant. The company is iffy- your boorish brother who, nonetheless, is the frontrunner for prime minister, and his wife. Who he is to the public is not who he is as your brother. So, it’s with trepidation that Paul Lohman and his wife Claire head out for what is likely to be an evening of pro forma conversation about jobs and kids. Neither a subject ... Read More...
Y: A Novel by Marjorie Celona
In my head, late at night, I draft letters to my mother and my father. I say everything I want to say, everything that needs to be said. In my head I am so eloquent. Abandoned on the steps of a YMCA Shannon is destined to become a foster care statistic. She is an unusual child with special needs due to her mother’s drug use before her birth. By the time she is five she has ... Read More...
Me and Mr. Booker
Me and Mr. Booker is sixteen-year-old Martha’s story of her affair with a married man. It’s Lolita from Lolita’s perspective which is physically less disconcerting but still likely to evoke moral discomfort. The story takes place in a small town in Australia which is notable only for being so unremarkable. As Martha says early on I also think that what happened had a lot to ... Read More...
The Weight of Temptation
Marina Rubin is overweight by about 65 pounds. She has reached the point well past doctors, diet plans, and pills, and is ready for extreme measures, so she signs up for 3 months at a weight loss clinic. It’s a retreat called The Reeds run by a man known only as Professor. In exchange for paying enormous sums of money, obese people like Marina are treated to psychological abuse ... Read More...
Accelerated
Sean is an artist working as an editor at a celebrity rag while trying to take care of his 8-year-old son, Toby. Several months ago his network executive wife decided she needed “time away” to find herself and abandoned father and son. Sean is left trying to manage his job and the care of his son, which includes negotiating the piranha-like waters of the posh private school ... Read More...
