Measuring Time: & Other Stories

by Nathaniel Lee Hansen

The twelve pieces in this short-story cycle chronicle dysfunctional relationships, differing worldviews, self-deceptions, and misperceptions, exploring a geographical region often referred to as “flyover country.” Hansen’s fiction highlights and develops the people who live, work, and struggle in an area foreclosed to the knowledge and imaginations of those outside the region. Against the stereotype that both the terrain and the culture are boring, flat, and empty, Hansen’s stories demonstrate that clarifying drama and purgative conflict are as present here as much as anywhere else. With careful, clear-eyed storytelling, Hansen hems the wild terrain of love, loss, hard-earned wisdom, and quiet courage. Demonstrating with each story masterful precision of not only prose, but also of human psychology, Hansen pinpoints the un-sutured wounds within his characters. Each story is a revelation of unexpected and uncommon compassion. —Gina Ochsner, author of The Necessary Grace to Fall, which received the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction There's a kind of deeper thoughtfulness to these stories than I've seen in a long, long while. Nathaniel Hansen's work stays close as close can be to the heart of his characters without veering into sentimentality or overwrought emotion. These are real people, in real places, dealing with the real issues of forgiveness, presumption, sin, and the freedom offered through grace. His prose is solid, his rendering of place sure; his vision one of redemption, and no matter how hard the battle, love can heal our hearts from our own self-inflicted wounds. —Bret Lott, author of Oprah's Book Club pick, Jewel, and New York Times best-selling author

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories

227 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2019

Reviews

[Grace Anne Wilhelm · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book on a rainy afternoon. It was the perfect book for a contemplative day. Each story spoke to some memory of mine and reminded me that we all feel the same things.

[Canon Howell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being from the same part of the country as the author and the settings of theses stories, they definitely provided a certain comfort and nostalgia. All the stories were well done but Measuring Time really stuck with me.

[Jastrow Hill · Rating 5 out of 5]

when you want to curl up with a book of short stories and see the goings-on in others' lives and feel the process of living, from a truly contemplative author, this may be on your list.

[sch · Rating 2 out of 5]

2021 Aug. After IN OUR TIME I'd like to read a few more short stories. I met the author of this collection at a conference in 2019.

Finished. Twelve sparsely interconnected stories of ordinary events: six with female protagonists, six with males. The title story is the longest and most interesting; the others are so fragmentary that it's hard to know what to say about them. Plot and characterization and whatnot are all clear, and the prose is serviceable. I'd need to read them again to say more, and can't bring myself to.

[Benjamin Myers · Rating 5 out of 5]

These stories are moving studies of characters within landscapes. They focus on the inner lives of often lonely people looking for meaningful connection in specific locations. The title story, a poignant coming-of-age tale, demonstrates Hansen's talent for illuminating the entanglement of person and place, life and locale. Hansen's stories are often driven by his character's desires: desires for love, for purpose, and for transcendence. This makes for powerful reading without gimmick or sensationalism. I highly recommend spending time with this book.