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Bright Shards of Someplace Else
Named as one of NPR's 2014 Great Reads
A 2015 Michigan Notable Book
In the eleven kaleidoscopic stories that make up Bright Shards of Someplace Else, Monica McFawn traces the combustive, hilarious, and profound effects that occur when people misread the minds of others. The characters—an array of artists, scientists, songwriters, nannies, horse trainers, and poets—often try to pin down another’s point of view, only to find that their own worldview is far from fixed.
The characters in McFawn’s stories long for and fear the encroachment of others. A young boy reduces his nanny’s phone bill with a call, then convinces her he can solve her other problems. A man who works at a butterfly-release business becomes dangerously obsessed with solving a famous mathematical proof. A poetry professor finds himself entangled in the investigation of a murdered student. In the final story, an aging lyricist reconnects with a renowned singer to write an album in the Appalachian Mountains, only to be interrupted by the appearance of his drug-addicted son and a mythical story of recovery.
By turns exuberant and philosophically adroit, Bright Shards of Someplace Else reminds us of both the limits of empathy and its absolute necessity. Our misreadings of others may be unavoidable, but they themselves can be things of beauty, charm, and connection.
A 2015 Michigan Notable Book
In the eleven kaleidoscopic stories that make up Bright Shards of Someplace Else, Monica McFawn traces the combustive, hilarious, and profound effects that occur when people misread the minds of others. The characters—an array of artists, scientists, songwriters, nannies, horse trainers, and poets—often try to pin down another’s point of view, only to find that their own worldview is far from fixed.
The characters in McFawn’s stories long for and fear the encroachment of others. A young boy reduces his nanny’s phone bill with a call, then convinces her he can solve her other problems. A man who works at a butterfly-release business becomes dangerously obsessed with solving a famous mathematical proof. A poetry professor finds himself entangled in the investigation of a murdered student. In the final story, an aging lyricist reconnects with a renowned singer to write an album in the Appalachian Mountains, only to be interrupted by the appearance of his drug-addicted son and a mythical story of recovery.
By turns exuberant and philosophically adroit, Bright Shards of Someplace Else reminds us of both the limits of empathy and its absolute necessity. Our misreadings of others may be unavoidable, but they themselves can be things of beauty, charm, and connection.
164 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2014
10 people are currently reading
531 people want to read
About the author
Monica McFawn
8 books2 followersMonica McFawn is a writer and playwright living in Michigan. Her short story collection, Bright Shards of Someplace Else, won the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction. She is also the author of a hybrid chapbook, “A Catalogue of Rare Movements,” and her screenplays and plays have had readings in New York and Chicago. A recipient of an NEA Fellowship in Literature, McFawn is currently an Assistant Professor of English at Northern Michigan University. When she isn't writing or teaching, she trains her Welsh Cob cross pony in dressage and jumping.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
May 10, 2015
One thing I love so much about reading short stories is stumbling upon story concepts and characters I haven't seen before, and of course, finding beautiful writing. Both were on display in Monica McFawn's collection
Bright Shards of Someplace Else
.
The characters that populate McFawn's stories are all different—a nanny and her precocious charge, a boss tasked with firing a problem employee, a pompous scientist and the art critic that comes into his circle, a pair of horse trainers and vets—but there is such heart at the core of each of the stories. And each story chronicles a need of some sort—some far more obsessive than others.
My two favorite stories bookend the collection. The first, "Out of the Mouths of Babes," follows a nanny who finds her new charge has a remarkable facility with making phone calls, so she tasks him with helping her solve a few problems. The final story in the collection, "The Chautauqua Sessions," chronicles an aging lyricist whose reunion with his former musical partner is waylaid by his drug addict son, and the lengths he goes to keep his son from affecting his inspiration. A few other stories I enjoyed included: "The Slide Turned on End," which follows a pompous scientist inspired by the intersection of art and science, and the art critic who becomes a somewhat unwilling participant in his work; "Line of Questioning," in which a poetry professor is questioned by police about his relationship with a former student; and "Key Phrases," which follows a fairly new supervisor at a company who is tasked with firing a problem employee.
McFawn, who won the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction, is a truly gifted writer. There were times, honestly, where her use of language and imagery actually hooked me more than the story's plot itself. Here is one example, from "Line of Questioning":
This collection was a bit more cerebral at times than I'm used to with short stories, so I didn't always warm to the plot or the characters. But when I did, I realized what a talent McFawn has, and I look forward to seeing it continue to develop in the future.
See all of my reviews at http://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blo....
The characters that populate McFawn's stories are all different—a nanny and her precocious charge, a boss tasked with firing a problem employee, a pompous scientist and the art critic that comes into his circle, a pair of horse trainers and vets—but there is such heart at the core of each of the stories. And each story chronicles a need of some sort—some far more obsessive than others.
My two favorite stories bookend the collection. The first, "Out of the Mouths of Babes," follows a nanny who finds her new charge has a remarkable facility with making phone calls, so she tasks him with helping her solve a few problems. The final story in the collection, "The Chautauqua Sessions," chronicles an aging lyricist whose reunion with his former musical partner is waylaid by his drug addict son, and the lengths he goes to keep his son from affecting his inspiration. A few other stories I enjoyed included: "The Slide Turned on End," which follows a pompous scientist inspired by the intersection of art and science, and the art critic who becomes a somewhat unwilling participant in his work; "Line of Questioning," in which a poetry professor is questioned by police about his relationship with a former student; and "Key Phrases," which follows a fairly new supervisor at a company who is tasked with firing a problem employee.
McFawn, who won the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction, is a truly gifted writer. There were times, honestly, where her use of language and imagery actually hooked me more than the story's plot itself. Here is one example, from "Line of Questioning":
"Theirs was a comfortable relationship of light mutual contempt that drummed on them bracingly like a light rain when they were together. The old demons of their relationship were soggy but still smelled alluringly like hellfire."
This collection was a bit more cerebral at times than I'm used to with short stories, so I didn't always warm to the plot or the characters. But when I did, I realized what a talent McFawn has, and I look forward to seeing it continue to develop in the future.
See all of my reviews at http://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blo....
December 4, 2014
Read my full review at my blog, http://readherlikeanopenbook.com.
Occasionally I come across a book that is more challenging than most to review. It’s not because it’s a bad book and I don’t want to write a scathing review; in those cases I just don’t bother with a review (life’s too short to be mean-spirited about a book). It’s because the work is so distinctive or pleasantly perplexing that I struggle to put my thoughts and feelings about it into words.
Monica McFawn’s debut collection is such a book. She submitted a selection of her stories to the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction contest and was named one of the two winners for 2014 (the award is given out biennially to two writers). And there is good reason for that: although it is still early in her career, she is already writing at an impressively sophisticated level. The result is this collection (published along with Karin Lin-Greenberg’s supremely entertaining Faulty Predictions).
McFawn, who teaches writing at Grand Valley State University in Michigan, possesses a fiercely idiosyncratic intelligence that is revealed on nearly every page of this eleven story collection. A few stories (“The Slide Turned on End,” “Elegantly, In the Least Number of Steps,” “Ornament and Crime”) reminded me of the quirky hyper-modern stories of Karen Russell and Ramona Ausubel (and, to a somewhat lesser extent, of George Saunders). In these cases, McFawn provides her eccentric characters with unique challenges that make for compelling reading even as they keep the reader confused or off-balance.
“The Slide Turned on End” is a brilliant exploration and mockery of scientific and academic research pretensions in which a former biologist and DNA expert becomes convinced that abstract art appeals to us because it captures the essence of our physical selves. He soon becomes a professor art and a cause celebre in certain circles. A journalist meets with him for an interview, in which O’Hara explains his theory, known as “micro-aestheticism. “
“I realized we humans probably react to art because we must, in some subconscious way, recognize it. Even abstract art. What I’m saying is I think we can sense the tiniest part of ourselves–and our origins–the cells, platelets, and our amoeba ancestors–in these images. And I think that’s what resonates with us when we view abstract art. We are, in a sense, recognizing the bits.”
“O’Hara went on to compare this who’s who of abstract art to what he assured me was a who’s who of bacteria, protozoa, and cells. Here and there the resemblances truly were uncanny, but what that proved remained obscure.
Eventually, O’Hara persuades the journalist to provide him with a drop of blood so they can examine her own “abstract art” under the microscope. This experiment requires the use of a new blood stabilizing agent called Ethiphet. Soon the journalist is experiencing O’Hara’s theory firsthand and discovering new insights into art. But matters do not progress in the way one might expect.
In McFawn’s more traditional stories, she uses her pen as a scalpel to cut to the heart of the matter. She is a fearless examiner of her characters’ foibles, and in doing so, she tells us much about ourselves.
In the opening story, “Out of the Mouths of Babes,” Grace, a twenty-something oddball is baby-sitting a nine-year-old boy who is described by his mother as “different,” “special,” and “high-maintenance.” She is told that young Andy is not to use the phone. Grace soon learns that Andy is a highly capable negotiator; he likes calling salespeople to practice. After sepaking with a termite exterminator, Grace asks him if he’d like to try clearing up a mistake on her phone bill with a call to customer service. What’s the harm? One call leads to another as Andy straightens out Grace’s messy life. “Adult lives spread out before him like big sloppy maps that their owners could not refold.” But the evening doesn’t end quite as Grace might have expected.
“Key Phrases” finds the manager of Journey’s End Memorials (“our company made videos of deceased loved ones to play at funerals or wakes”) attempting to find a way to fire an incompetent employee, with little success.
“Snippet and the Rainbow Bridge” allows McFawn to demonstrate her impressive knowledge of the equestrian field. Judy and Marti own Heart’s Journey, a horse rescue ranch. Despite their successful business partnership, they have different philosophies of horse care. They retain two large animal veterinarians, Dr. Jim and Dr. Merrill, one Old School and one progressive, whose philosophies align with that of Judy and Marti, respectively. They are faced with the question of what to do about a seriously ill horse with a special talent for painting (yes, you read that right).
The collection closes with one of its strongest stories, “The Chautauqua Sessions,” in which a successful country songwriting duo, lyricist Danny and singer-guitarist Levi, reunite at a studio in the Appalachians to try to recapture the magic of their heyday. But the chemistry is altered when Danny’s son, Dee, a recovering drug addict, arrives to reconcile with his father. Danny’s plan to get rid of Dee so he and Levi can get back to work results in an unexpected but entirely plausible series of events that will change everyone’s lives.
Monica McFawn’s stories are not easy reads with simple conflicts and pat resolutions. She leaves a lot to the reader to infer on the way to reaching a final impression of a story’s meaning. While some stories in Bright Shards of Someplace Else are less successful than others, McFawn is always intriguing and thought-provoking, and the quality of her prose is never an issue. This is a smart, ambitious collection of stories by a writer whose initial acclaim is certain to grow.
Occasionally I come across a book that is more challenging than most to review. It’s not because it’s a bad book and I don’t want to write a scathing review; in those cases I just don’t bother with a review (life’s too short to be mean-spirited about a book). It’s because the work is so distinctive or pleasantly perplexing that I struggle to put my thoughts and feelings about it into words.
Monica McFawn’s debut collection is such a book. She submitted a selection of her stories to the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction contest and was named one of the two winners for 2014 (the award is given out biennially to two writers). And there is good reason for that: although it is still early in her career, she is already writing at an impressively sophisticated level. The result is this collection (published along with Karin Lin-Greenberg’s supremely entertaining Faulty Predictions).
McFawn, who teaches writing at Grand Valley State University in Michigan, possesses a fiercely idiosyncratic intelligence that is revealed on nearly every page of this eleven story collection. A few stories (“The Slide Turned on End,” “Elegantly, In the Least Number of Steps,” “Ornament and Crime”) reminded me of the quirky hyper-modern stories of Karen Russell and Ramona Ausubel (and, to a somewhat lesser extent, of George Saunders). In these cases, McFawn provides her eccentric characters with unique challenges that make for compelling reading even as they keep the reader confused or off-balance.
“The Slide Turned on End” is a brilliant exploration and mockery of scientific and academic research pretensions in which a former biologist and DNA expert becomes convinced that abstract art appeals to us because it captures the essence of our physical selves. He soon becomes a professor art and a cause celebre in certain circles. A journalist meets with him for an interview, in which O’Hara explains his theory, known as “micro-aestheticism. “
“I realized we humans probably react to art because we must, in some subconscious way, recognize it. Even abstract art. What I’m saying is I think we can sense the tiniest part of ourselves–and our origins–the cells, platelets, and our amoeba ancestors–in these images. And I think that’s what resonates with us when we view abstract art. We are, in a sense, recognizing the bits.”
“O’Hara went on to compare this who’s who of abstract art to what he assured me was a who’s who of bacteria, protozoa, and cells. Here and there the resemblances truly were uncanny, but what that proved remained obscure.
Eventually, O’Hara persuades the journalist to provide him with a drop of blood so they can examine her own “abstract art” under the microscope. This experiment requires the use of a new blood stabilizing agent called Ethiphet. Soon the journalist is experiencing O’Hara’s theory firsthand and discovering new insights into art. But matters do not progress in the way one might expect.
In McFawn’s more traditional stories, she uses her pen as a scalpel to cut to the heart of the matter. She is a fearless examiner of her characters’ foibles, and in doing so, she tells us much about ourselves.
In the opening story, “Out of the Mouths of Babes,” Grace, a twenty-something oddball is baby-sitting a nine-year-old boy who is described by his mother as “different,” “special,” and “high-maintenance.” She is told that young Andy is not to use the phone. Grace soon learns that Andy is a highly capable negotiator; he likes calling salespeople to practice. After sepaking with a termite exterminator, Grace asks him if he’d like to try clearing up a mistake on her phone bill with a call to customer service. What’s the harm? One call leads to another as Andy straightens out Grace’s messy life. “Adult lives spread out before him like big sloppy maps that their owners could not refold.” But the evening doesn’t end quite as Grace might have expected.
“Key Phrases” finds the manager of Journey’s End Memorials (“our company made videos of deceased loved ones to play at funerals or wakes”) attempting to find a way to fire an incompetent employee, with little success.
“Snippet and the Rainbow Bridge” allows McFawn to demonstrate her impressive knowledge of the equestrian field. Judy and Marti own Heart’s Journey, a horse rescue ranch. Despite their successful business partnership, they have different philosophies of horse care. They retain two large animal veterinarians, Dr. Jim and Dr. Merrill, one Old School and one progressive, whose philosophies align with that of Judy and Marti, respectively. They are faced with the question of what to do about a seriously ill horse with a special talent for painting (yes, you read that right).
The collection closes with one of its strongest stories, “The Chautauqua Sessions,” in which a successful country songwriting duo, lyricist Danny and singer-guitarist Levi, reunite at a studio in the Appalachians to try to recapture the magic of their heyday. But the chemistry is altered when Danny’s son, Dee, a recovering drug addict, arrives to reconcile with his father. Danny’s plan to get rid of Dee so he and Levi can get back to work results in an unexpected but entirely plausible series of events that will change everyone’s lives.
Monica McFawn’s stories are not easy reads with simple conflicts and pat resolutions. She leaves a lot to the reader to infer on the way to reaching a final impression of a story’s meaning. While some stories in Bright Shards of Someplace Else are less successful than others, McFawn is always intriguing and thought-provoking, and the quality of her prose is never an issue. This is a smart, ambitious collection of stories by a writer whose initial acclaim is certain to grow.
July 14, 2020
Full freaking disclosure--
I only read the first story and got halfway through the second one and then my loan expired.
Based on the 1st story alone-I'm in love with Monica McFawn. Great story, characters you can believe in (even when they are a tad fantastical) and great pacing. The second story didn't grab me as much and then my loan went bye-bye.
I only read the first story and got halfway through the second one and then my loan expired.
Based on the 1st story alone-I'm in love with Monica McFawn. Great story, characters you can believe in (even when they are a tad fantastical) and great pacing. The second story didn't grab me as much and then my loan went bye-bye.
February 6, 2017
This collection of short stories is a bit uneven. Some of the stories are much better than others. The vivid characters are the strongest thing about this collection.
January 17, 2015
This was an entertaining read. The abruptness that McFawn plunges and eliminates the reader from each vignette is sort of like being a passenger in an uncalibrated time machine. Part of the fun is trying to get a gist of what's going on right away and find some common ground. She does it well with quickly relatable characters and thought patterns. The rosy cheeked unimpressed child in in the first vignette and the stubborn middle aged farm woman, Fran, in second vignette are quickly well-imagined. My favorite is the use of Fran's braid as the vehicle for Bill's severe irritation of Fran's stubbornness to cling to his mother's horse care superstitions. It just oozes out of descriptions like "In her dirty Carharts with the lumpy gray-streaked braid down her back, she hardly cut an imperious figure" , "She turned so fast that her thick ugly braid swung around like a creature's tail wielded in defense. " and "...while he looked down at her, at the ratty braid, and the tense sure twitching of her back muscles under winter wear."
Also relatable is the vasovagal episode described with blood art on a microscope. I get that sort of reaction and it was on spot! In the last story, Dee's past repeated ephemeral periods of soberness are like boy who cried wolf for his father, and are very real; old news for those I've watched spiral into the black hole of drug addiction. It made me cringe at Dee's over-dramatic story about saving the bum's life and Levi and Lucinda’s gullibility , knowing it may very well be a ploy to regain Dad’s sympathy, and eventually drug money.
To me, a good book is relatable, where the thought patterns seem real, the emotions I've felt, the characters people I know (or know of). McFawn imagines a wide range of characters well. Not all of the vignettes are like this for me, and personally I think there are too many stories in here which is why I give it a 4 and not a 5. I would have been satisfied with just five of the stories:the first three, a less abrupt ending to the butterflies story, and the last story.
TANGENTS: What McFawn does well in a series of distinct vignettes is capture the two parallel trajectories of existence; the one outside and the ever-present one in our heads. I believe the "bright shards of someplace else" are the distinct moments, memories, emotions we replay in our own heads, that take us from reality. The first three vignettes all seem to convey the way thoughts, memories, and general mental noise internally can put one into a state of suspended animation externally. This seen in the molasses-like exchange between Mol and her manager, as her manager prepares to fire fidgety Mol. It is described in Fran's useless horse massaging to somehow ease the horse into the ditch, and in Grace's "in limbo" life status with her sister and boyfriend/lawyer. This contrasts with the ease in which the boy (in first vignette) quickly resolves Grace and his parents troubles. His mind isn't cluttered with life experience that freezes the other characters, and to him major emotional/life challenges are still just games with solutions. Reading the first vignette I thought, "I want to be like THAT kid!" It is similar for the buttery fly man, who is driven to reduce life's complexities into elegant steps.
I thought delving into the mind of a horse in the next to the last vignette was unexpected, and therefore funny.
Also relatable is the vasovagal episode described with blood art on a microscope. I get that sort of reaction and it was on spot! In the last story, Dee's past repeated ephemeral periods of soberness are like boy who cried wolf for his father, and are very real; old news for those I've watched spiral into the black hole of drug addiction. It made me cringe at Dee's over-dramatic story about saving the bum's life and Levi and Lucinda’s gullibility , knowing it may very well be a ploy to regain Dad’s sympathy, and eventually drug money.
To me, a good book is relatable, where the thought patterns seem real, the emotions I've felt, the characters people I know (or know of). McFawn imagines a wide range of characters well. Not all of the vignettes are like this for me, and personally I think there are too many stories in here which is why I give it a 4 and not a 5. I would have been satisfied with just five of the stories:the first three, a less abrupt ending to the butterflies story, and the last story.
TANGENTS: What McFawn does well in a series of distinct vignettes is capture the two parallel trajectories of existence; the one outside and the ever-present one in our heads. I believe the "bright shards of someplace else" are the distinct moments, memories, emotions we replay in our own heads, that take us from reality. The first three vignettes all seem to convey the way thoughts, memories, and general mental noise internally can put one into a state of suspended animation externally. This seen in the molasses-like exchange between Mol and her manager, as her manager prepares to fire fidgety Mol. It is described in Fran's useless horse massaging to somehow ease the horse into the ditch, and in Grace's "in limbo" life status with her sister and boyfriend/lawyer. This contrasts with the ease in which the boy (in first vignette) quickly resolves Grace and his parents troubles. His mind isn't cluttered with life experience that freezes the other characters, and to him major emotional/life challenges are still just games with solutions. Reading the first vignette I thought, "I want to be like THAT kid!" It is similar for the buttery fly man, who is driven to reduce life's complexities into elegant steps.
I thought delving into the mind of a horse in the next to the last vignette was unexpected, and therefore funny.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 18, 2015
Recently on WKAR’s Current State, I reviewed the new collection of short stories by Monica McFawn. Bright Shard of Someplace Else was also selected this year as one of the Michigan Notable Books.
You can listen to my new review here: http://wkar.org/post/book-review-moni...
If you would rather read my review, you can do so below.
-
Book Review: Bright Shards of Someplace Else by Monica McFawn
We writers tend to take short stories for granted.
They are practice. They are something students do in a class. They are throwaway ideas for a collection or a blogsite. Most recently, publishers have been asking authors to create short stories as a means for introducing a novel to an audience—sort of an awkward attempt at a prequel. Check out this free short story, now come back and buy the book!
Honestly, it’s all a little unfair. Good short story writing is an art form unto itself with a rich tradition all its own. Here in Michigan, we have a contemporary virtuoso of it in our midst. Bright Shards of Someplace Else by Monica McFawn is a collection of 11 masterful short stories. It is one of this year’s Michigan Notable Books and has also been awarded the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction. And while you can’t always judge a book by the award stickers on its cover, these fascinating stories definitely live up to the hype.
My favorite one is entitled “The Chautauqua Sessions.” It follows a struggling and aging pop songwriter. Danny is planning a comeback, but things become a mess when his drug-addicted son shows up at the studio, claiming, once again, to have broken his habit. While others believe in his son and his recovery, Danny is convinced he is lying, and he will do anything to prove that is the case. This obsession will end up taking Danny down some very questionable roads. It is a wonderful character piece.
Another example of McFawn’s talent for packing a punch into just a few pages is “Out of the Mouths of Babes.” This story opens the collection. In it, a young woman named Grace has been hired to babysit Andy, a nine-year old with an amazing talent for negotiation. Grace is warned not to let Andy get on the phone, but once she realizes Andy can solve all of her problems, from overdue bills to relationships, she can’t help herself. She is going to make this 9-year old fix her life. It is a very witty tale, and I was uncertain exactly how it was going to end, right up until the last page.
One of things I love about McFawn’s collection is how much it feels like she is doing something new and a little experimental. These are not your typical stories with a clear beginning, middle, and end. They are moments captured, providing just a snippet of someone’s life. Sometimes, the stories build up to an event that we don’t even get to witness. This can leave a reader almost starving to know what happens next. I can’t help but imagine McFawn giddy at that kind of reaction from readers, enjoying the tease of it.
Bright Shards of Someplace Else by Monica McFawn is a fantastic book, filled with memorable characters and extraordinary, yet believable, situations. My only complaint with this collection of short stories, is that it wasn’t longer.
You can listen to my new review here: http://wkar.org/post/book-review-moni...
If you would rather read my review, you can do so below.
-
Book Review: Bright Shards of Someplace Else by Monica McFawn
We writers tend to take short stories for granted.
They are practice. They are something students do in a class. They are throwaway ideas for a collection or a blogsite. Most recently, publishers have been asking authors to create short stories as a means for introducing a novel to an audience—sort of an awkward attempt at a prequel. Check out this free short story, now come back and buy the book!
Honestly, it’s all a little unfair. Good short story writing is an art form unto itself with a rich tradition all its own. Here in Michigan, we have a contemporary virtuoso of it in our midst. Bright Shards of Someplace Else by Monica McFawn is a collection of 11 masterful short stories. It is one of this year’s Michigan Notable Books and has also been awarded the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction. And while you can’t always judge a book by the award stickers on its cover, these fascinating stories definitely live up to the hype.
My favorite one is entitled “The Chautauqua Sessions.” It follows a struggling and aging pop songwriter. Danny is planning a comeback, but things become a mess when his drug-addicted son shows up at the studio, claiming, once again, to have broken his habit. While others believe in his son and his recovery, Danny is convinced he is lying, and he will do anything to prove that is the case. This obsession will end up taking Danny down some very questionable roads. It is a wonderful character piece.
Another example of McFawn’s talent for packing a punch into just a few pages is “Out of the Mouths of Babes.” This story opens the collection. In it, a young woman named Grace has been hired to babysit Andy, a nine-year old with an amazing talent for negotiation. Grace is warned not to let Andy get on the phone, but once she realizes Andy can solve all of her problems, from overdue bills to relationships, she can’t help herself. She is going to make this 9-year old fix her life. It is a very witty tale, and I was uncertain exactly how it was going to end, right up until the last page.
One of things I love about McFawn’s collection is how much it feels like she is doing something new and a little experimental. These are not your typical stories with a clear beginning, middle, and end. They are moments captured, providing just a snippet of someone’s life. Sometimes, the stories build up to an event that we don’t even get to witness. This can leave a reader almost starving to know what happens next. I can’t help but imagine McFawn giddy at that kind of reaction from readers, enjoying the tease of it.
Bright Shards of Someplace Else by Monica McFawn is a fantastic book, filled with memorable characters and extraordinary, yet believable, situations. My only complaint with this collection of short stories, is that it wasn’t longer.
January 21, 2015
A very well written, thought-provoking collection of stories. It's no mystery why this author has won the Flannery O'Connor award.
The first story, "Out of the Mouths of Babes," set the tone for the collection, stories that had an element of the strange, yet also, remaining full of stark realism as well. In the story, a child solves each of his new nanny's troubles one by one by speaking to call centers, business owners and a detective over the phone.
Each story contains characters that have troubles with the world, or in themselves, which they try to solve through various means, sometimes a mathematical equation, sometimes music, other times through the repeated motions of a massage that they didn't believe in, but hope that if only they try it, it will work.
Each story was expertly turned, leaving me with endings that I both was glad to see, but also wanted to put off getting to once I neared them.
The last story, "the Chautauqua Sessions" was particularly both hard to read and compelling to me.
Hopefully this award, along with the few books of short stories listed on 2014 best of lists, will boost readership in short story collections. I think this book would appeal to those who enjoy reading George Saunders, Jonathan Letham, Matt Haig and Haruki Murakami.
The first story, "Out of the Mouths of Babes," set the tone for the collection, stories that had an element of the strange, yet also, remaining full of stark realism as well. In the story, a child solves each of his new nanny's troubles one by one by speaking to call centers, business owners and a detective over the phone.
Each story contains characters that have troubles with the world, or in themselves, which they try to solve through various means, sometimes a mathematical equation, sometimes music, other times through the repeated motions of a massage that they didn't believe in, but hope that if only they try it, it will work.
Each story was expertly turned, leaving me with endings that I both was glad to see, but also wanted to put off getting to once I neared them.
The last story, "the Chautauqua Sessions" was particularly both hard to read and compelling to me.
Hopefully this award, along with the few books of short stories listed on 2014 best of lists, will boost readership in short story collections. I think this book would appeal to those who enjoy reading George Saunders, Jonathan Letham, Matt Haig and Haruki Murakami.
November 25, 2014
A wonderful collection of odd, charming stories; Monica McFawn creates a cast of strange and delightful characters who are sure to linger in my mind for weeks to come. Lovely prose, lovely sense of humor, lovely overall. I'm sure I'll be revisiting some of these stories in the future. I enjoyed them all, but my favorites are "Out of the Mouths of Babes," "A Country Woman," "The Slide Turned on End" (possibly my favorite of them all - Dr. O'Hara is so obnoxious and pretentious and utterly captivating) and "Ornament and Crime," with an honorable mention to "Snippet and the Rainbow Bridge."
Looking forward to reading more of Monica's work.
Looking forward to reading more of Monica's work.
November 21, 2014
Being a friend of the author might influence my response, I thought. Yet from beginning to end I forgot each was a single or separate story and was completely engrossed. One of those rare books that I could not put down.
Monica's talent is being each character. Her reliability and connectedness to each character is uncanny. Whether I liked or didn't like what each person was doing, I was inside his/her head and I was seriously along for the ride.
I definitely - ! - recommend this book to everyone!
Monica's talent is being each character. Her reliability and connectedness to each character is uncanny. Whether I liked or didn't like what each person was doing, I was inside his/her head and I was seriously along for the ride.
I definitely - ! - recommend this book to everyone!
November 1, 2014
There are many gems of plot and character in this collection. My personal favorite is Line of Questioning. It's subtle and rich in voice, with an interesting concept--probably the best-executed story in the collection. However, in many of the stories the pacing is a struggle. Character depth that the reader would grasp more quickly by the characters' actions and reactions is delivered first by explicit, long-winded description from an omniscient narrator. The stories could have been much shorter, and much more enjoyable to read.
April 26, 2016
This realist short story collection wasn't anything special in my eyes, but it was OK and some stories were really well done. I particularly liked the first story (Out of the Mouth of Babes) which explores the exploitation of a child's intelligence by his babysitter, and the second story (Dead Horse Productions) which is centred around the troublesome removal of a horse's corpse. Some stories however, truly bored me (most prominently, Snippet and the Rainbow Bridge; which again looks at the death of a horse but in a way that was not as successful as Dead Horse Productions).
January 8, 2015
One of the 2013 winners of the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction, McFawn’s Bright Shards of Someplace Else offers ample evidence for those other “world[s] peeping through.” Her characters, like Marti and her partner, are often positioned in familiar settings, but McFawn’s exacting prose reveals how these people toe the edges of normalcy...Full review at http://necessaryfiction.com/reviews/B...
October 23, 2015
I enjoyed a couple of the stories quite well: "Out of the Mouths of Babes" and "The Slide Turned On End."
McFawn has an excellent way with metaphors and similes. The themes of the stories seem to center around being ineffectual, or being of the cusp of doing something and not quite succeeding.
I really had higher hopes for this book. I couldn't quite make myself read the last two stories in a thorough way.
McFawn has an excellent way with metaphors and similes. The themes of the stories seem to center around being ineffectual, or being of the cusp of doing something and not quite succeeding.
I really had higher hopes for this book. I couldn't quite make myself read the last two stories in a thorough way.
July 25, 2016
The book is about what happens when people misread others and the aftermath of doing so. Most of the stories easily slotted into that definition while others were more reaching. Some of them were too long or too metaphorical so they didn't quite fit the flow of the other stories but for the most part they were all entertaining in their separate ways.
Read
March 21, 2015Extraordinarily well-written stories, exquisitely wrought like Faberge eggs. The first story in the collection ("Out of the Mouths of Babes") is priceless. That said, most of the stories left me cold, and as finely written as all of the stories are, many were pretty slow reads for me. Well deserving of the Flannery O'Connor Award, but not my cup of tea.
November 2, 2014
I loved this book. The level of detail and subtly was incredible, and each story was extremely unique. I especially loved "key phrases" which was about a firing gone wrong...the characters were hilarious, poignant and distinct. The whole collection was a treat. Highly recommended.
March 18, 2015
My first attempt at reading a book of short stories. Thought author was a good writer but, I agree with Sarah. None of the stories really grabbed me. Since most didn't have nice tidy endings, I found myself frustrated. My fav story was about the scientist/artist. Very macabre.
January 13, 2016
I wish I could give this one 3.5 stars. Several of the stories were excellent. A few were just too "out there" for me to get in to. However, her writing is fantastic! She literally paints a picture with words. Her description of the horse in "Dead Horse Productions" is so real.
January 30, 2016
The cover art is what made me pick this one up, the concept was intriguing. I sped through these wondrous disturbing little stories. I fully enjoyed the thought provoking brief exposure to human nature, not always at its best.
October 9, 2016
A sublime collection of transporting short stories from the Flannery O'Connor award for short fiction, this one won in 2014. I would recommend this collection to everyone, and this book is among the best I have read over the years from this esteemed prize.
October 22, 2015
My rating does not reflect on Ms. McFawn's writing because she writes very well. Other than the first story, though, I thought the others were just okay.
Read
October 21, 2014Review pending.
January 1, 2015
I loved it!
January 5, 2015
task #3 Book Riot Challenge
January 13, 2015
I enjoyed these stories. A wide variety of character and setting.
February 25, 2015
None of the stories in this short story collection really grabbed me. They were OK but none have stayed with me.
August 9, 2015
This book is incredibly well written but very dark.
April 23, 2015
Though not usually a big short story fan, I enjoy Monica's sense of humor and odd perspective in many of these stories very much! I'm looking forward to reading more from this author.
May 14, 2015
Well written, dark, short stories.
September 13, 2015
Off-center short stories.
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