Title | : | Measuring the Distance |
Author | : | |
Rating | : | |
ISBN | : | 1421886502 |
ISBN-10 | : | 9781421886503 |
Format Type | : | Paperback |
Number of Pages | : | 110 |
Publication | : | First published August 2, 2012 |
Measuring the Distance Reviews
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If you enjoy minimalist flash with a dose of humor and a splash of black, you will do no better than this book. It's the sort of fiction you find in the Boston Literary Journal and other top shelf literary flash venues. I took it slowly, digesting a few nuggets each day, letting them settle, and I think that's the best way to go. These are deceptively big ideas in small packages with some of the sharpest prose you will find, yet there's also a sense of humility in most of the pieces that I found endearing. Good stuff!
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Another terrific collection of ultra-short stories by Robert Scotellaro (see also my review of What We Know So Far, by the same author.) There are many, many standouts. In "Uncle L", for example, a ventriloquist struggles to practice his art after suffering a stroke. In only three pages--one of the "longest" stories in this collection--it manages to be both macabre and poignant:
"Since his stroke, Uncle L talks out of one corner of a droopy mouth that looks as if it were made of wax that had melted, working the controls in Mr. Mumps' back, making his eyes move, his head swing from side to side, his jaw flap."
Perhaps my very favorite though, is "Crooners In the Web", with a poet at an unemployment office, seeking work to match his skill set. Among the memorable lines: "I was thinking I might find something related, part time. Say, sweeping zeros into freshly dug graves." Many if not most of the other stories in Robert Scotellaro's fine collection are likewise very funny and beautifully written.