The book starts off great, with a little bit of humour and sarcasm on the first story, with a very good progression and implications.
The dry humour and sarcasm is definitely a GREAT trait of this book, Kevin Revolinski should get the award for the most sarcastic writer in the planet. It’s just flawless, and the way it makes you want to read the story while listening some jazz on the background is something very nice. You don’t get in this day and age, many writers with this “non-challans“, better yet, totally uninterested vibe of narrative. It’s very cool, and the fact that Kevin Revolinski could keep the reading experience light and amusing, slightly gripping, is impressive.
The first story, Stealing Away, is about two youngsters that run away from their houses, Bony and Clyde* style, and try to survive by making petty crimes. What’s interesting about this story is that it shows a LOT of the reality of most americans live and it’s not passed on the media. They both lived under financially struggling parents, with low education, one of them lived with a single parent after a “run-for-it” from the house, and both apparently didn’t have much of an education. So, here we have two youngsters, distressed by lack of money, and leaving a track of crimes on their wake while naively hanging to the certainty that everything will be fine.
There’s so much skill in the writings of Kevin that one can only notice if paid very close attention, like when he says: “There was anger, sure, but it faltered like a fluorescent bulb flickering as it couldn’t hold the light. I saw anxiety and fear in the darkness between”, I mean, HOLY MONOPOLY, THAT, is something that takes a lot to get right. Breath-taking! Stealing away, the short story, is very emotional on the sense of family and the despair of slowly losing those who you love, or growing up to realize that they aren’t the heroes, you thought they were, in a sense, yet, in the end, realizing that you should’ve listened to them, because life isn’t as easy as they thought it would be.
Ok. For those who think we are exaggerating, a few days after we posted THIS very review, yes, this line is an update, THIS very book won the 2021 PenCraft Award in the category of Short Story Collections!!! We are not just saying this to hype this book up, and we are not the only ones that think that this book is worthy of an award.
The diversity and reach of these stories are amazing both in wide as in depth. Stories about bullies and dealing with them, the power of preparedness, the cost of silly mistakes and harshness and the power of regret, all of it told in a cool, dark, straight-up and almost lyrical style of this amazing writer that is Kevin Revolinski.
Harsh realities and observations are sprinkled on the book with quite frequency, done in an always surprising, unexpected way and actually whenever the perfect opportunity to do it arises. Kevin does not miss a beat. Excellent stuff right here.
La Gatita is very cool, not for its Latino-flavour per se, but for the very well prepared mixture of moral lessons, honour, boundaries, opportunities and the sensuality of despair.
Mosaic, one of the stories is an entrancing piece that really shows the skill of the author. It’s complex, subjective, dry, sensual, grips the senses and perceptions of wrong and right, the human urges and the wildness of one in want, desiring and the secretive life that some cultures, specially Arabic cultures force onto women. It’s a piece that will make you think, imagine and lose yourself on. GREAT Job by Kevin.
One of the highest traits of these stories are the imageries that each create on us readers, given just enough detail for them to be vivid and powerful, yet letting, allowing the reader to make most of the “decisions” when it comes to the pictures we choose increasing the engagement we have with this wonderful collection of short stories.
Kevin’s stories aren’t predictable in any shape or form. The plot is always hidden by his narrative style and not enough information of normally expected nuances of the past, or future are given in order to aid us to figure out what is going to happen. The stories, kept in the present tense, mostly, as the narrator simply states the events without interferences or inputs, to the point that we don’t even know how the characters look like sometimes, all we are given are the main features, when relevant, and that’s one of the reasons these stories are so good!
I enjoyed myself while immersed on the stories of this collection and would actually read it again and again, as they seem timeless.
Kevin comes up with gems such as “Her voice was a feather brushing a smooth surface“, and many other GREAT little insinuations and remarks from the narrator while giving us EXTREMELY cultural diverse stories, ranging from Turkey to the Caribbean’s, a little of the Mexican culture, and much, MUCH more in so few pages. It’s amazing and enriching.
Pros:
- Deep stories, all of them with meaning and mystery
- EXCELLENT use of sarcasm
- The flow of the narrative and the atmosphere it creates in EVERY single story, is sublime
- Kevin brings a style of narrative that is almost being forgotten, and to read an author daring to use it again is refreshing
- The cultural approaches and spectrum is outstanding!
- LOVVVEEEEE the way Kevin makes you think from a new angle everyday situations
- The dry humour is impeccable
- Kevin offers us GEMS with his dry remarks, I looooooooooooooooved it! I will read this collection again, for sure.
Cons:
- None.
Scribble's Worth 