The Children's Corner

by Jackson Tippett McCrae

Not a book for children, but rather a collection of short stories dealing with loss of some kind, (emotional, spiritual, physical), The Children’s Corner is a disturbing and thought-provoking, sometimes hilarious look at the human condition. Ranging from morbid to hysterically funny, these rare and occasionally bizarre glimpses into the human heart are deftly crafted jewels that show us the most labyrinthine recesses of the human psyche. One story, "Christmas Comes but Once a Year," is a humorous look at a series of Christmas letters gone awry, and a brilliant study in denial, while another, "Summer Music," deals with a husband and wife coming to terms with prearranged infidelity. "Crook," the only novella in this collection, tells the story of a nephew visiting his Alzheimer-ridden aunt and the plethora of memories that surface because of that experience. The title story, "The Children’s Corner," centers around a series of lies and the ramifications that these reckless verbal fabrications have on an aspiring teenage pianist in a small Mississippi town.

176 pages, Hardcover

First published October 10, 2004

Reviews

[Jae · Rating 4 out of 5]

Children's Corner is an interesting collection of short stories themed with death, a little killing, and the virtual death named Alzheimer's disease. The writing is great, if not a little dark.