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In Just the Right Light
Rust Belt, USA, where steel is dead, hope is scarce, and hardship is a way of life. Miles Junction is but one of many Northeastern Ohio towns long forgotten and left behind, its residents living on the cusp of financial, emotional, even spiritual destitution. An old trapper becomes the scapegoat for a boy's brutal murder. An out-of-work diesel mechanic resorts to crime in order to provide for his wife and son. A teenage girl braves a brutal winter storm to protect a tragic secret. A recovering drug addict wrestles with temptation and bears the weight of an uncertain future. These and the other working-class characters that populate this collection know struggle intimately and understand that desperate times often call for desperate measures. Their lives are linked by a ruined yet starkly beautiful post-industrial landscape--a desolate vestige of our fractured American dream. Taking place during the last few decades of the twentieth century and those following the new millennium, In Just the Right Light is a glimpse at one region's bleak inheritance and the precarious lives of those who remain to rummage through the fallout of its past.
- GenresShort Stories
286 pages, Paperback
Published March 12, 2019
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78 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
December 27, 2020
Just fricking wow! Loved this book, the stories, the lives, the subtle interconnectedness of the pieces of the puzzle - a stonking read and one I loved taking the journey with.
Full review to come soon - but what a storyteller.
Full review to come soon - but what a storyteller.
March 15, 2019
Don't miss out on this brilliant collection by Bill Soldan! Absolutely mesmerizing. It's powerful and unforgettable! Outstanding! LOVE!
June 16, 2021
This one sat on my shelf for a long while, but in recent months I've discovered that Soldan isn't just good, he is f'ing great. His poetry has blown me away and his stories did too.
In this collection of loosely connected stories, we come across full rounded characters in each tale seeking more than what they have without the means to truly do it. The writing is clear and concise and the stories feel like classics even just minutes after you've read them. The themes are universal and paired with the writing make this a collection that you wish went on and on. Luckily for me, Soldan has a couple more collections and a first novel due out in a matter of months.
In this collection of loosely connected stories, we come across full rounded characters in each tale seeking more than what they have without the means to truly do it. The writing is clear and concise and the stories feel like classics even just minutes after you've read them. The themes are universal and paired with the writing make this a collection that you wish went on and on. Luckily for me, Soldan has a couple more collections and a first novel due out in a matter of months.
May 23, 2019
William Soldan pairs setting and character in post-industrial America as entwined. Having met the author at a recent writing retreat, I find Bill's interpretation of my home region, Northeast Ohio, as bleak as rummaging through a junkyard of the past making the reader wonder, what is salvageable?
March 15, 2021
By far, the best short stories i've ever read in my entire life
March 27, 2022
Damn. I thought Bill’s other collection, HOUSES BURNING, was an emotional doozy, but his first book IN JUST THE RIGHT LIGHT really plunges its hands into your chest, digging through your skin and muscle and bone, until it wraps its hard fingers around your heart and squeezes it dry.
You want killer last lines? How about: “She thinks I’m back on the bottle. And with a growing dread that I’ll never be absolved, I begin to think that maybe I should be.”
Holy hell. This collections reads like the darker liner notes of Springsteen’s NEBRASKA that were too harsh to be included with the album. There is bleakness all around here. Mostly losers, with maybe the cautious optimism that they can win if they just have a little bit more cash, if they can get out of town, if they can find the right love. But what I love about Bill’s work is that he never treats his characters unfairly. They are just sad remains of circumstances. And they do the best they can with the shit hands they’ve been dealt their whole life.
I don’t think there’s a bad story here. Poetry, man. Poetry. Every story a knockout. But I specifically loved “Running” because the emotion absolutely tore my heart a knew one.
I know Bill through Twitter - he’s good people. Read my published stories and all I can say is that his work, and this book right here, is nothing short of a big influence of what I’m trying to do. Human stories that capture the wide range of our deeply flawed human condition: crime, addiction, murder, terrible kids, the spaces between us and the ones we love that can either be filled or become wider.
This book won’t be for everyone. If you like Donald Ray Pollack’s KNOCKEMSTIFF or THE DEVIL ALL THE TIME or Chris Offutt’s short stories or Bonnie Jo Campbell’s AMERICAN SALVAGE than this is for you. Bill has such an intense sense of place, that it also feels like a microcosm for the rest of rural American in our post-industrial world (Springsteen’s “Johnny 99” or “My Hometown,” anyone???) and there are always some of those people who get trapped in the wreckage, and have to carve out their own lives to survive. Or just get through another night. I fucking loved this.
You want killer last lines? How about: “She thinks I’m back on the bottle. And with a growing dread that I’ll never be absolved, I begin to think that maybe I should be.”
Holy hell. This collections reads like the darker liner notes of Springsteen’s NEBRASKA that were too harsh to be included with the album. There is bleakness all around here. Mostly losers, with maybe the cautious optimism that they can win if they just have a little bit more cash, if they can get out of town, if they can find the right love. But what I love about Bill’s work is that he never treats his characters unfairly. They are just sad remains of circumstances. And they do the best they can with the shit hands they’ve been dealt their whole life.
I don’t think there’s a bad story here. Poetry, man. Poetry. Every story a knockout. But I specifically loved “Running” because the emotion absolutely tore my heart a knew one.
I know Bill through Twitter - he’s good people. Read my published stories and all I can say is that his work, and this book right here, is nothing short of a big influence of what I’m trying to do. Human stories that capture the wide range of our deeply flawed human condition: crime, addiction, murder, terrible kids, the spaces between us and the ones we love that can either be filled or become wider.
This book won’t be for everyone. If you like Donald Ray Pollack’s KNOCKEMSTIFF or THE DEVIL ALL THE TIME or Chris Offutt’s short stories or Bonnie Jo Campbell’s AMERICAN SALVAGE than this is for you. Bill has such an intense sense of place, that it also feels like a microcosm for the rest of rural American in our post-industrial world (Springsteen’s “Johnny 99” or “My Hometown,” anyone???) and there are always some of those people who get trapped in the wreckage, and have to carve out their own lives to survive. Or just get through another night. I fucking loved this.
May 6, 2019
Grit Lit at its best.
I was familiar with the author’s short-fiction work in various literary journals and magazines, so I knew going in I was probably going to like this book. I more than liked it—I loved it. Soldan delivers an outstanding contribution to Grit Lit that deserves the high ratings and reviews it has received. I felt this was on par, and in some ways better than, Donald Ray Pollock’s Knockemstiff and Bonnie Jo Campbell’s American Salvage. Soldan weaves stand-alone stories together, loosely and expertly, as both Pollock and Campbell do, but he does it in his own fashion, with characters and places only he can know, in stories only he can tell. In Just the Right Light is an honest snapshot of what it’s like to try to make it, day by day, in an America that fell short on promises to a large segment of the population. Fantastic debut book. Can’t wait to read Soldan’s next.
I was familiar with the author’s short-fiction work in various literary journals and magazines, so I knew going in I was probably going to like this book. I more than liked it—I loved it. Soldan delivers an outstanding contribution to Grit Lit that deserves the high ratings and reviews it has received. I felt this was on par, and in some ways better than, Donald Ray Pollock’s Knockemstiff and Bonnie Jo Campbell’s American Salvage. Soldan weaves stand-alone stories together, loosely and expertly, as both Pollock and Campbell do, but he does it in his own fashion, with characters and places only he can know, in stories only he can tell. In Just the Right Light is an honest snapshot of what it’s like to try to make it, day by day, in an America that fell short on promises to a large segment of the population. Fantastic debut book. Can’t wait to read Soldan’s next.
April 25, 2022
I could say go forth. I could say seek out. I could mention purchase and enjoy. Sure, I could do all those things when talking about this book by William Soldan. Instead I'm going to say this: fuck me. Great book. Great voice. Fun was had indeed.
April 28, 2019
In Just the Right Light is, like any hard truth, difficult to take in but worthy of thought and introspection. It's gritty and raw, showing the lives of people who are just trying to make it in a world where their flaws or their environment try to keep them down. The characters could be you or me or someone you know, and seeing that reflection as you read is a bitter pill, but one you should gladly take. These stories do a body good.
November 14, 2021
I’ve read many short story collections over the past decade, and this one left one of the biggest marks, a welt that won’t soon vanish. Soldan offers such a deeply insightful collection of gritty, sordid tales that are so wonderfully mixed with angst and authenticity that I couldn't help but wonder if I could find many of these characters on the street if I looked hard enough. This is the magic of William Soldan. His writing invites you into his own experience, such that the lines on the page almost feel like markers in your own life—a gas station here, a convenience store there. A downtown bar lined with colorful, lonely characters like a Tom Waits song. Yet, the characters in Soldan’s stories hunger for something beyond the page, something far out of reach. They long for something they may never fully understand, and in doing so, demonstrate their truth, their underlying vulnerabilities. This is the American experience in a nutshell, and something Soldan expertly blends into his collection of honest American grit.
March 20, 2019
Read this book!
A very well written and well told collection of stories. While not always the most savory of characters, they were portrayed in a manner that left me wanting more when their stories ended. And it was delivered as their paths intertwined, sometimes in the most random ways. I truly enjoyed reading this collection and highly recommend it. I look forward to seeing more from this author.
A very well written and well told collection of stories. While not always the most savory of characters, they were portrayed in a manner that left me wanting more when their stories ended. And it was delivered as their paths intertwined, sometimes in the most random ways. I truly enjoyed reading this collection and highly recommend it. I look forward to seeing more from this author.
April 9, 2019
Beautifully written, powerful stories of struggle. So poetically written I found myself rereading paragraphs several times just to savor them! These stories really struck a chord with me on a deep, personal level. I can’t wait to read them over again.
May 2, 2020
For me, short story collections get no better. This feels like a greatest hits. No joke.
I can't even single out a favourite, because each of them have a little something I liked. Even though some had similar traits, they still felt very different. Some even staying with me long after I'd finished. Stories of life and real hardships, coming-of-age kind of stories. There's not a single word wasted either. I loved catching some of the subtext, too. And I want to read it again to catch some more. The stories were short but they had a real depth to them. That's all I can really say. This is a book that's good to go into blind.
If you have Kindle Unlimited, bookmark it. Don't let it pass you by. I honestly think a lot of my Twitter friends would love this, especially having similar tastes to myself.
If you've never had a subscription to KU, take a free trial. Why not? You can always cancel it later. The author still gets paid. It's all that matters.
I read it on KU myself, but I bought it straight after. I do that sometimes.
This one's a keeper.
I've loved a fair few short story collections lately and all for different reasons. Some for their weirdness, some for their grit and brutality, some for the shock and some for reasons I can't even think of at the moment, lol. But this one, I'd say, just runs with a big old heart and that's what I needed right now.
If you enjoy the scribblings of Joe Lansdale, Chad Lutzke and James Newman, I'd say this should be right up your street.
All the stars and then some.
I can't even single out a favourite, because each of them have a little something I liked. Even though some had similar traits, they still felt very different. Some even staying with me long after I'd finished. Stories of life and real hardships, coming-of-age kind of stories. There's not a single word wasted either. I loved catching some of the subtext, too. And I want to read it again to catch some more. The stories were short but they had a real depth to them. That's all I can really say. This is a book that's good to go into blind.
If you have Kindle Unlimited, bookmark it. Don't let it pass you by. I honestly think a lot of my Twitter friends would love this, especially having similar tastes to myself.
If you've never had a subscription to KU, take a free trial. Why not? You can always cancel it later. The author still gets paid. It's all that matters.
I read it on KU myself, but I bought it straight after. I do that sometimes.
This one's a keeper.
I've loved a fair few short story collections lately and all for different reasons. Some for their weirdness, some for their grit and brutality, some for the shock and some for reasons I can't even think of at the moment, lol. But this one, I'd say, just runs with a big old heart and that's what I needed right now.
If you enjoy the scribblings of Joe Lansdale, Chad Lutzke and James Newman, I'd say this should be right up your street.
All the stars and then some.
January 4, 2020
The individual stories are lovely on their own. Everything I like: dark, introspective, deeply place based with interesting characters, and ambiguous endings, but as a novel in stories, I think that is where this collection really shines. All of the stories take place near the same small town, and it's fascinating and rewarding to watch them come together. I couldn't put it down, and when I finished I found myself wishing I had someone to talk about it with. I will be watching for more of Soldan's work.
May 4, 2020
Having grown up in Youngstown, I found these stories to be heartbreakingly accurate and real. They ache, and sir have, causing me to unearth buried memories. It takes talent to create such a vivid world in just a small piece of writing, but all the stories in this collection succeed. I plan on sending it to my family.
April 25, 2022
Fans of stories in the vein of Larry Brown and Donald Ray Pollock will find a lot to love in this poignant and haunting collection. I know I did.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews