Mourning Doves and other stories.

by Tom Upton

Short stories.

FREE Goodreads downloads.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

212 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 4, 2008

About the author

Born in Chicago.Studied advanced writing at Columbia College.

Hopeless Romantic most of the time.

Reviews

[Beth Jensen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a relitively good collection of short stories that became three stars from all the gramatical errors. It was honestly horrible. I've heard alot of good things about Tom Upton but after reading this, he obviously either doesn't use English as his first language or is in desperate need of an editor. I don't mean just a few errors. This was more like 10 words per page. Honestly.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tom Upton's stories in this collection are very diverse. Some are more enjoyable than others, but on the whole there is something in every one of the stories that will make a reader stop and think. The version I read could definitely do with some editing, as there are many typos and errors which distract from the stories and weaken the flow of the writing.
Tom Upton's talent seems to lie in being able to grab the reader's attention and draw them into the story, and most importantly to keep the reader's interest. There are many believeable and well-observed/developed characters in these tales. Halfway through the collection, I think there are a couple of stories that could have been left out, interestingly 'Mourning Doves' was one of them! That story along with 'Fetal Position' are, in my opinion, the weakest stories in this collection. My personal favourites are, 'The Hanging Boy', which I felt was particularly insightful, and, 'Life Along the Okie-dokie Highway'.
Sometimes I found that the endings to the stories were not very satisfying, even though the actual stories and content were very interesting.
I enjoyed reading this book and it's definitely a collection worth reading.
Many thanks to Tom Upton for giving me a free download copy.

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

17 short stories. Some creepy, some sad. All of them make you think.

The Scent of Evil **
I'm pretty sure that I didn't get the point of this story.

The Family Coffin ***
I liked this story for a little while - wondering what was to become of the coffin. It had such potential...

Burning Bridges ****
I really liked this clever story. The title says it all.
Those idiots.

Life Along the Okie-Dokie Highway ***
This one was cute. Sort of familiar to me. Long road trips and annoying siblings.

The Hanging Boy ***
Very weird. Can you ever really trust childhood memories?

Cold, Cold Water ****
Very, very disturbing. It was so scary how unemotional Ricky was...

The Last Great Original ****
I was enthralled by this story of a homeless man even though it wasn't really about anything. I loved the fisherman.

Things Lost **
Very short story about a senior couple on their last(?) move.

Mourning Doves ****
Life and loss.

Fetal Position ****
Creepy. It reminded me of the movie the Machinist. I guess weird stuff happens when you never sleep. What is up with this guy? And what's the deal with the Karo syrup?

Disability ****
Amazing. This story is so familiar to me. How agrivating!
At first I thought he should have gone on the news or something to try to get some attention. But, in the end, I was thinking about what he should do - and he did just that.

Mastermind *****
Great idea! This is my favorite one!

The Lowliest of Humans ***
This story made me want a cigarette.

Deja Vu ***
Super creepy. Well, you can pretty much guess what is going to happen by the title. I wonder what they saw?

The Wind ****
I think this guy is a grim reaper of sorts. Either that or he is super crazy.

The Great Squirrel Hunt of 1977 ***
I'm not really sure how I liked this story, but it has a good point about helping people no matter what they are like.

The Last Long Walk Home ****
Interesting story from the point of view of a man with Alzheimer's.

[Arielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book of short stories was great. As with all books of short stories, some were better than others. Some of the stories were snapshots of something going on in the life of a character and that was it. Those always leave me feeling sort of unsatisfied, but I still liked them all. The only thing I did not like about this that took away from the experience of reading was the continuous errors in context. "There" for "their", and in some places "he" for "she" which was really confusing for a few seconds long enough to interrupt the flow of the story. All in all, a good book and I enjoyed reading this author.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this collection of short stories. All were fantastically written and haunting. A great spooky read for this time of year. I am grateful to Tom Upton for allowing me the chance to read this one for free! Thank you.