Ceffo

by Jonathan Carroll

On a trip to Italy, a woman stuck in a crumbling relationship discovers the city she loves holds a secret that could change her life…

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Genres: Short Stories, Fantasy, Speculative Fiction

33 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 28, 2023

About the author

Jonathan Carroll (b. 1949) is an award-winning American author of modern fantasy and slipstream novels. His debut book, The Land of Laughs (1980), tells the story of a children’s author whose imagination has left the printed page and begun to influence reality. The book introduced several hallmarks of Carroll’s writing, including talking animals and worlds that straddle the thin line between reality and the surreal, a technique that has seen him compared to South American magical realists.

Outside the Dog Museum (1991) was named the best novel of the year by the British Fantasy Society, and has proven to be one of Carroll’s most popular works. Since then he has written the Crane’s View trilogy, Glass Soup (2005) and, most recently, The Ghost in Love (2008). His short stories have been collected in The Panic Hand (1995) and The Woman Who Married a Cloud (2012). He continues to live and write in Vienna.

Reviews

[Theo Logos · Rating 4 out of 5]

”She was in a town she loved with a man she no longer loved and was beginning to hate. This time everything about the place was only loud, plaintive ghosts of what might have been and now-stained lovely memories of their last visit here. All kinds of sadness and regret in stark bitter contrast to the ancient city’s heartbreaking beauty.”

”I miss her more now than I think I ever loved her. Is it such a bad thing to say or to feel?”

Can you love a town so much that it loves you back? And can its love rescue you?

Jonathan Carroll has a keen ability to capture romantic relationships in all their quirks and foibles, aspirations, disappointments, and dark undercurrents. In Ceffo a couple whose romance has grown toxic revisit an Italian town where their love once thrived. The town can’t save their poisoned relationship, but it can punish the man’s cruelty, and offer the woman a tantalizing escape. This short tale is lovely magic realism at its bittersweet best.

Ceffo is available for free online. https://reactormag.com/ceffo-jonathan...

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Ceffo” by Jonathan Carroll

Oh my God. This hit me SO HARD.

If you have ever been in a demeaning relationship, where you were treated like absolute garbage, where your partner slowly and systematically destroyed your ego, your self-esteem, your self-worth, then this story will either trigger you or make you 100% understand and feel for the MC h in this book.

The ending was the HEA every single one of us needs and I pray that we all get it.

5, I am most definitely crying right now, stars.

[Jennifer Freudenberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought the kindle version of this book, so I had no idea how long it was. I thoroughly enjoyed every word and was looking forward to diving in to the story — but it was over! I guess it’s better to be left wanting more than to wish it would end already, right?
I’d love it if this had 40 more chapters…

[Sevi · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Beneath my sorrows, I hold a city.”

What a peculiar, bittersweet short story

[Kieran McAndrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

A woman in a loveless relationship finds out the city she is visiting is offering her a novel way to leave her fiancé.

An interesting short story. The sense of time disappears, but the sense of place is wonderful.

[Beth N · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some authors are just readable. I'm quickly discovering that Jonathan Carroll is one of them.

We've all seen the setup before: woman stuck in a soured relationship with a man she once adored but who turned out to be an a-hole. But then peculiar things start happening and the romance novel clichés are given a new speculative makeover.

I could spend a long time pointing out the Storytelling 101 techniques that make this story successful. Carroll has a knack for pulling his audience in and keeping us invested. His shaping of character is deft and pulls on all the right strings.

I could perhaps have wished for more agency on our main character's part and there were moments where the avoidance of using the characters' names (though fun for literary analysis) led to some clunky sentence structures, but in all this was a half hour well spent.

[Sam - Spines in a Line · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some interesting moments but the author held back when I thought they'd pursue it. I didn't like the ending, as interesting a premise as it is, it feels it would hurt the characters more than help them, and the references to current day events while strangely framing them felt like an unnecessary disconnect.

[Shiva · Rating 5 out of 5]

“From the beginning she had tried so hard to be a positive, supportive partner. But on a day-to-day basis he turned out to be one of those people never satisfied with their lot, their share, their partner, their life in general.”

Bette Davis: "It's better to be hated for who you are, than to be loved for someone you're not. It's a sign of your worth sometimes, if you're hated by the right people.

"There really are different versions of this city. Cities have the power to change things like time and circumstances that happen within their city limits. They can move people and things around in time just a little if they believe it's necessary or beneficial. Not too much. Nothing drastic, just some heres and theres."

[Katherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice little bit of wish fulfillment. It was a little clunky in parts, but had a nice heart.

[Alicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the set-up quite a bit. But then the reveal about what was going on and the town wanting her to stay turned everything a little bit too weird for me. I didn't quite understand it. Well I understood the town wanting her to stay, but not so much the very loose way time is played with. And I really don't understand how Bogart shows up if he never visited the town when he was alive.

[Lara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Such a pleasant read until Bogart. Seriously?

[Barry · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really interesting take on the notion of the life of/in a city

[Heni · Rating 2 out of 5]

Did she die in the end? It is a fine story until the part where she is told to stay with the man who is dead to "escape" her abusive boyfriend. What a weird way to get out of a toxic relationship.

[Anna Avian · Rating 2 out of 5]

A short story that plays with time, desire, and dreams. I appreciated how the bitter and the sweet were evenly balanced at the end.

[Ellen J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jonathan Carroll is masterful. How he fleshed out his characters in such a short piece was so skillful. Add to that his trademark weirdness and you have another unforgettable piece of writing.

[Steven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jonathan Carroll is a pretty amazing author, and this short story would be, I think, a nice introduction to his work and how he can hit just the right notes...