Confessions From a Moving Van

by Amy Neftzger

Confessions From a Moving Van is a short story that follows a series of individuals embarking upon life changes as told from the perspective of the moving van who carried these people on their journeys. Told in a somewhat similar vein as the author's previous work Conversations With the Moon, the stories are thoughtful, yet often funny. Even with their limited knowledge of the world, machines can also be philosophical.

97 pages, ebook

First published December 31, 2012

About the author

Amy Neftzger (born June 23) is an American researcher and author who has published fiction books, non-fiction books, business articles, and peer review research. Her works have reached an international audience.

Amy was born in Illinois and graduated from Elk Grove High School in Elk Grove Village, Illinois. She received her bachelors degree from the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, Florida and her Masters in Industrial/ Organizational Psychology from Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. She graduated from both Universities with honors.

She has written numerous business and journal articles, but her fiction works have been the most commercially successful. In 2003 she published Conversations with the Moon, which was also translated into Korean and published in South Korea. In 2005 she collaborated with her husband, guitarist Tyra Neftzger on a children's book called "All that the Dog Ever Wanted." The book was designed to introduce children to jazz music at an early age and included a CD sampler of jazz tunes. In 2007 she worked as an editor on a business fable called "The Damned Company."

Reviews

[Brandy Nacole · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this story intriguing considering it comes from an inanimate objects point of view. That's right. This story is from the van's point of view. Stories are unraveled about the cargo she's (I pictured the van as a she, the gender isn't really specified) carried along with the passengers she carries.

Neftzger creates a unique concept with this short story. It's easy to read, follow, and can be read in one sitting.

The story is a small collection of tales of passengers that ride along in the van, confessing their stories and troubles to the van as they travel together. Neftzger does a wonderful job tying in the last Tale, which is the vans own confession, in with the other stories. We then learn the connection of all the passengers she has carried.


Overall, I though Confessions from a Moving Van was fun and original. Ever wonder what inanimate objects think? Go get this book and find out.

[Camille Cusumano · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amy Neftzger may have invented a new genre, "van-tasy." Her collection of stories is tied together by the narrator, a van who/that is omniscient. His or her or its confession is the last story in the collection and cleverly ties together all the characters in the other stories. The author's style is spare, as you would expect a van to think and talk. I'm reminded a bit of Raymond Carver's deceptively simple language crossed with Kurt Vonnegut's use of allegory and satire. In my writing workshops I have students do an exercise where they inhabit the point of view of a person, place, or thing beyond themselves. The point is to "break the mirror," I say, by looking back a one's self thru other eyes. Confessions From a Moving Van, a veritable fish eye on humanity, breaks the mirror and is a great example for them to read.

[Kyrana Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Confessions from a Moving Van” by Amy Neftzger is an interesting take on the interconnectedness of our lives. Narrated from the moving van’s perspective, these short stories provide a snap shot of the lives of several families in season s of transition. As we follow along it becomes apparent that the lives we are viewing have a connection to the choices others have made. In retrospect on wonders about the road not taken as if that were possible.

[Marty · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this from another site. While it took about a hour to read, I really liked it. The book is short with stories of the lives of different people who intertwine and happen to rent the same moving van.
Well written, fun, I wish it was longer.