Okay, I have to admit: Sometimes I just don’t get it. Whenever I read a book or short story, listen to a song, or watch a movie, I ask myself: What’s the point of this? What is the artist trying to say? Are they trying to get me to feel something? Are they showing me a different perspective on something? Are they preaching, or are they entertaining? And sometimes I come away none the wiser. It’s rare, but it happens.
UNTOUCHABLE by Scott O’Connor falls into the aforementioned rarity category. After reading it, I have no idea what I’m supposed to take away from the novel, other than a general sense of malaise and melancholy. It’s bleak and depressing, much like real life.
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THE LAST ROSE OF SUMMER, the second novel in Monte Schulz’s Jazz Age trilogy, shows another side to his writing. Instead of showing the dark underbelly of society through the eyes of 19-year-old Alvin Pendergast, as in THIS SIDE OF JORDAN, we are treated to three very distinct women and their stations in life. This novel is connected to the previous one, since the characters are connected by family. But it’s only in a letter that any mention of Alvin is made, so anyone coming to this book first will not be lost.
Widowed Maude Hennessey is at her wit’s end with her daughter, Rachel, a spoiled girl who lives her life frivolously and spends her days with a young pilot. Then there is Marie Hennessey, forced to live with her mother-in-law, Maude, as her husband goes off to find work to support his family.
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Seeing a review of any book by such a lofty literary figure as Joyce Carol Oates on this site is sure to raise an eyebrow or two, but her readers and followers of various anthologies know that the author is no stranger to genre fiction. (A story of hers is included in the recent James Ellroy and Otto Penzler-edited BEST AMERICAN NOIR OF THE CENTURY, for example.) In fact, GIVE ME YOUR HEART, her latest collection of short stories, is her second gathering of TALES OF MYSTERY AND SUSPENSE, as the subtitle has it, with 2006′s THE FEMALE OF THE SPECIES being the first.
In general, what you’ll find here are highly literate, expertly crafted stories rich in character detail and psychology. But these features are often at the expense of what is generally regarded as mystery and suspense.
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The ever-reliable Walter Mosley takes a break from his Leonid McGill mystery series (THE LONG FALL, KNOWN TO EVIL) and briefly revisits contemporary Los Angeles with his new novel, THE LAST DAYS OF PTOLEMY GREY, an emotionally wrenching but moving and fulfilling standalone.
Ptolemy Grey is 91 years old, and lives alone in an apartment full of junk and debris, and with a mind full of conflicting, fleeing thoughts and confusing memories. His family has all but forgotten him, except for Reggie, his great grandnephew who frequently tries his best to take care him. One day, Reggie stops appearing.
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Editor’s note: We don’t review short stories on their own, but when Akashic Books asked us to participate in a crowdsourced review of Joe Meno’s DEMONS IN THE SPRING collection, we couldn’t say “no,” and were assigned “Animals in the Zoo.” Akashic invited 20 literary blogs to review one of 20 stories from the paperback edition; you can see the results here, with exclusive commentary from Meno.
Ever seen the 1965 family comedy ZEBRA IN THE KITCHEN, in which a kid opens all the zoo cages to free their residents, who cause playful havoc? Joe Meno’s “Animals in the Zoo” is like that. What about the 1977 horror film DAY OF THE ANIMALS, in which the beasts of the forest terrorize and slaughter unhappy campers? Joe Meno’s “Animals in the Zoo” is like that, too.
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