Published by Mayapple Press ISBN 9781936419401
Trade paperback, $16.95, 126 pages
Victoria Fish's debut collection of eleven short stories feature people in moments of crisis. They have troubled relationships with the people in their lives and have to face difficult decisions in her slim collection A Brief Moment of Weightlessness.
Fish takes us along a continuum of life, starting with 4th grader Maddie whose father is in prison in the first story Where Do You Find a Turtle with No Legs? to elderly Martha having to face the challenges of aging in the last story Between the Dream and Here. In between we have characters such as a young woman on a semester abroad in India after losing her mother, a stay-at-home mom whose new neighbor is shaking up her world, and a woman whose husband lost his leg in an accident.
Each story features unique characters, and Fish is able to draw us into each character's world in just a few pages. She creates an distinct atmosphere for each story, and even though some stories are quite short, she manages to convey a sense of completeness for each one.
The most emotional story, and they were all so very moving, is The Last and Kindest Thing, which features the character Adam, an Iraq war veteran who is also in the story Green Line, where we learn he has a young daughter whose mother won't allow him to see because of some undisclosed, most likely post traumatic stress related, incident.
In The Last and Kindest Thing, Adam has to take his 95-pound dog Banjo to the vet to be put down. Adam and Marianne are like many people, struggling to stay ahead of the bills while working at low-paying jobs. Adam suffers a bad hand injury and because he has no health insurance, and he ignores the injury until it is almost too late. It's a story familiar to too many people.
Anyone who has had to put down a dog will have a tough time not crying at Fish's description of the scene. She manages to bring up all the emotions and we see them come to life through Adam's experience. Adam's story is truly unforgettable.
A Brief Moment of Weightlessness is filled with characters with whom the reader can empathize. I find myself thinking about them, and I know that this will be a book I return to again and again, confident I will continue to discover something profound about the humanity that exists in us all. I look forward to reading Victoria Fish's next creation.
rating 5 of 5
Thanks to TLC Tours for putting me on this tour. The rest of Victoria Fish's tour is here.
Victoria Fish’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS:
Monday, September 15th: Bibliophiliac
Wednesday, September 17th: Kahakai Kitchen
Thursday, September 18th: A Bookish Way of Life
Monday, September 22nd: Seaside Book Nook
Wednesday, September 24th: A Lovely Bookshelf on the Wall
Thursday, September 25th: Suko’s Notebook
Monday, September 29th: Book Snob
Wednesday, October 1st: Bookchickdi
Thursday, October 2nd: Knowing the Difference
Monday, October 6th: Svetlana’s Reads and Views
Wednesday, October 8th: Patricia’s Wisdom
Thursday, October 9th: Lit and Life
Monday, October 13th: The Things You Can Read
Tuesday, October 14th: Under My Apple Tree
Wednesday, October 15th: 5 Minutes for Books
Victoria Fish's website is here.
It isn't every book that can be reread again and again and still have new things to give. This collection sounds like a real keeper!
ReplyDeleteThanks for being a part of the tour!
Thank you so much for reading and reviewing my book. Your sensitive and thorough review made my dad. Vicky Fish
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for your thorough and sensitive review of book. It has been such a pleasure to be part of this tour. Thank you for reading!
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