Palindrome: Stories

by Elizabeth Genovise

A carpenter does verbal battle with God over his son’s early death. A young man haunted by his cousin’s suicide has an opportunity to redeem himself of his former negligence; an alcoholic reunites with the man who ruined his marriage, and discovers more than he bargained for in the child he may or may not have fathered. A mother attempts to comfort her daughter after her son-in-law drowns in the Gulf of Mexico and finds herself strangely implicated. After a school shooting, a college professor becomes obsessed with vengeance, but not for the first time. A veteran tasked with driving his daughter to an abortion clinic is forced to acknowledge painful truths about his own history of love; a woman recalls night-hikes to a rescue zoo with the troubled boy who shifted the arc of her life; a widow has the foundation torn out from beneath her when she discovers her husband’s long-term infidelity. And in the title story, a pair of cousins flee the Vietnam draft only to find that there is no escape from what they most fear. The characters in Palindrome find themselves boomeranged into situations for which they weren’t prepared, and they have no choice but to confront their emotional and spiritual challenges if they wish to move forward with their lives.

245 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 3, 2024

About the author

Elizabeth Genovise grew up in Villa Park, Illinois. She graduated from the MFA program at McNeese State University in Lake Charles, Louisiana, and considers her time in the Deep South to be the best of her life. Since then she has published three collections of short stories via small presses- A Different Harbor, Where There Are Two or More, and Posing Nude for the Saints- in addition to a chapbook, The Stone Pear. Her fourth book, Palindrome, is due out from the Texas Review Press in 2022.


Elizabeth is a 2016 O. Henry Prize recipient and her stories have appeared in The Cimarron Review, Natural Bridge, Pembroke Magazine, Appalachian Heritage, and dozens of other literary journals. She teaches college composition and literature, and also works as a private creative writing coach for aspiring authors. She and her husband Chris live near Knoxville, Tennessee in a home that is half writer's studio, half woodworking shop (where's the dining room???). Someday, she'd like to live in a lighthouse on Lake Michigan, and she is currently at work on a novel set in on those shores.

Reviews

[Jillian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Each of the stories in Palindrome deal with loss and grief. They contain a variety of perspectives from a father whose son is dying to a woman who finds out her dead husband had many affairs. These stories are incredibly vivid in their descriptions and characterization. If Genovise wanted to, several of these stories have the potential to be fleshed out into novels.

The only true weakness of this collection to me is the cover design. It just feels very stock photo esque tp me. I wish more thought was put into the photo/font.

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

PALINDROME is a series of short stories all based on tragedies. I don't usually like short stories that well, but these were very well written and compelling. Even though the topics were sad, there were lessons to be learned and many topics to discuss. I would definitely recommend this as a personal read and a group read. These stories pull the reader in and help you to relate, for me without making me feel sad. More reflective, aware, and empathetic.