| Title | : | Ploughshares Solos Omnibus Volume 3 |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Kindle Edition |
| Number of Pages | : | - |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 2015 |
Take a trip across Israel with the deceased Izzy Gam as he tries to find an unoccupied place to rest, visit a ruined hotel in a washed-up resort in Puerto Rico, and become immersed in the lives of two very different families living in a marginalized ethnic community in Kansas City. Meet protagonists that range from a small-town Mennonite girl to a performance artist walking the fine line between success and sell-out. These and other stories play with narrative while urging readers to think about the role cultural assumptions and myths play in everyday life.
Since 1971, Ploughshares has discovered and cultivated the freshest voices in contemporary American literature, and remains prescient in the digital age by providing readers with thoughtful and entertaining literature in a variety of formats. Find out why the New York Times named Ploughshares “the triton among the minnows.”
Ploughshares Solos Omnibus Volume 3 Reviews
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favorites: pie, the beginning of the end of the beginning, bad books (ok love/hate relationship with the protagonist), & the brooks brothers guru.
my favorite would probably be the beginning [...] because i love the trio of pragmatists struck between their idealism & realism and showing different stages of that. i have a soft spot for the protagonist too, huhu -
I was totally blown away with the quality of writing and the stories in the Solos Omnibus Volume 3. What a great collection. I'm not sure where to really begin, but I guess I'll just discuss a couple of my favorites and reiterate that Ploughshares is probably the best single subscription I have ever invested in - check out their site.
Villa Boheme by Kevin Gonzalez follows a 15 year old boy and he navigates that narrow ledge of adolescence between childhood and adulthood. On one hand he yearns to feel older and life with his father in a run down hotel gives him that chance - an opportunity to be away from his mother who is distracted by a new romance. However, as time wears on, he begins to see that the freedom he craves has not come quite the way he desired. It's a pretty heartbreaking reminder that teenagers are full of contrast and conflict even in their own desires.
The Brooks Brother Guru by Alix Ohlin involves Amanda whose cousin has recently declared via facebook that he is going to live in a group home and unplugging from the world. His concerned friends convince Amanda to track him down, which she does. She explores the new commune in which he lives and wonders if she can convince herself to give up certain things in her life in order to embrace the simplicity in which her cousin now lives. It's an interesting look on how much we are willing to adapt ourselves to a certain lifestyle in order to gain the things we think are important.
The Beginning of the End of the Beginning by Anne Elliott was also a favorite. It involves Clay, a down and out performance artist who has kind of lost his way in the life of art. He stoops to getting a day job in order to pay some bills and in doing so, alienates his girlfriend and best friend. Their vicious revenge on him makes him contemplate what he is really doing with his life.
Other honorable mentions are Cafe Deux Mondes is timely with Syrian immigrants opening a restaurant with their African American neighbors. It's well written and the friendship between the two women protagonists feels real and not at all contrived for the plot. Pie, about a former mennonite girl who is convinced to move west with a man who buys pie in her diner only to find out he's been keeping some secrets was also well done. The girl, Kathryn, must find her own way in a post-war era.
Such a great collection and I'm so glad to have a subscription with access to the Omnibus, because the individual stories are usually around 2.99 a piece on the website, but for some really high quality short fiction, it's worth it. -
"'I'm content'...It hasn't crossed her mind that people, generally, do not admit to such a thing, as if to say so is an admission of defeat and not acceptance, as if contentment were a resignation and not a state of grace. ... [She] has not said she is happy. Only that she is content." This is one of my underlined lines, from Catherine Browder's "Cafe Deux Mondes," one of the nine stories in this anthology of long-short stories, and it kind of describes how I felt about the entire collection.
I really really enjoyed two of the stories, Anne Elliott's "The Beginning of the End of the Beginning" because of the complicated first person narrator and Kevin A. Gonzalez's "Villa Boheme," (could this be a writer I found in the slush pile over at NM?) because of his skill with POV (his successful use of second person) and the colorful characters he portrays with perfect detail. I plan to find other works of these two writers. Browder's piece is also good. So is the story by Alix Ohlin. I mean, none of the stories are bad stories.
I'm glad I bought it. -
It can be really tough to pass a goat off as a guide dog.
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Plougshares aims to make this journal focused on the longer pieces of fiction. Nice.
