Call It What You Want

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The first time I read Keith Lee Morris was when his short story, "Testimony," appeared in the literary journal, "Public Space. One of the things that Brigid Kemmerer does so well is make characters feel real and Maegan certainly does. This book will have you screaming at the characters wondering why they can’t just work it out or move on.

I just really appreciate it when characters are taken apart like that and Kemmerer is at the top for me for creating incredible character arcs. I love that the series not only focuses on the love story of James and Ait but also took time to explore Bas's. Sloane Hart is a hopeless romantic who always believed her great love story was out there, until her parents’ divorce shattered that dream. And when her sister comes home from college pregnant, keeping it from her parents might be more than she can handle. The themes here are so universal that I don't think gender mattered much except in small turns of plot, and as a woman I felt by no means excluded or excused from things.Rob because they became poor as the FBI seized everything to compensate people and because his father tried to kill himself but missed. Hiding the stress of her home issues behind a brave face, Iris competes for valuable assignments that may one day earn her the coveted columnist position. This puts Rob in a position of finding out that maybe there is more to what happened with his father than Rob originally knew.

I was really impressed with how the author put such a long story into so few pages without skipping a beat on the details of the story or tying it all together. At least, that’s what it feels like during her first week of junior year at her new ultra-intimidating prep school in Los Angeles. and as i was in the produce section, looking at the bananas, all i could think was 'maegan and rob better live happily ever after or, so help me, someone will hear about it.But, in the end, his father cheated all of his investors out of millions, and Rob has been tainted by the scandal. Since I did not have to personally live through the various tragedies described myself, I'm left with that sort of feeling of relief and resolve to avoid trouble that I think audiences of the earliest fairy tells must have felt as they stood up from around the fire to go lie down for the night, a sort of "there but for the grace of god" giddiness. As everything is taken from his family, Rob's father attempts suicide, leaving him in a partially vegetative state. Caught in a scandal and compromising other students in the process, she is deemed lowest of the low, just after one simple mistake when, before, she was simply dubbed a goody-two shoes.

Also why do people in books go to school and take AP classes and yet have no homework and say things like "I PUT IN EFFORT! Other stories in the collection are perhaps too stylish (playing with voice, ambiguity between fantasy and reality, blahblah). Ethan Brady is guarded and mysterious, unwilling to talk about his past or let anyone get too close. In this story, we find a town facing a flash flood, and a family who realizes that their oldest son is not at home. My interested literally went really up and really down throughout the whole thing, so I’m pretty sure this is a case of “it’s me, not you”.Some of the stories were ok and some of them started out really good and then the ending was either bad or it didn't have an end. One of things I enjoy most about short stories collections is discovering the ways in which they are linked to one another.

She invites him to be her soulmate/male concubine in California - and since he hasn't had much direction with his life he wonders if she should accept the offer. As the author himself said in an interview on the blog largeheartedboy (more on that in a second), with the story "Visitation" things start to take a "strange turn.

What I really found touching about these stories was the angle of regular guys, going nowhere fast, often making bad decisions. Yet as I am not known for my patience I dared contact the publisher to request a copy and I was really overjoyed when they so kindly agreed! Bottom line: The only way on god’s great green earth you’ll catch me reading another Brigid Kemmerer book is if Bloomsbury, the light of my life, sends me one. It’s terribly sad and without a doubt broke my heart every time he was home or talked/thought about it. And also the fact that even if you are brought up in a certain situation, that does not mean you have to follow in your parents footsteps.