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Jerry with a Twist: A Story about Redemption
In "Jerry with a Twist," nothing is easy – at least not for Jerry, an out-of-work actor who needs work badly with his girlfriend pregnant with a child they both want. Will today’s audition go well? Will the actress coming on to him spoil things? The many twists on Jerry’s journey make him wonder. This story is part of a series of new tales from Christopher Meeks of modern life in America. The print comes with two extra stories, "Green River" and "Divining." When Christopher Meeks's first short story collection, "The Middle-Aged Man and the Sea," came out, the Los Angeles Times called his work “poignant and wise, sympathetic to the everyday struggles the characters face.” Entertainment Weekly wrote it was a “stunning” collection. He continues here with his trademark insight and humor.
48 pages, Paperback
Published November 9, 2018
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About the author
Christopher Meeks
27 books80 followersChristopher Meeks first published short stories in such literary journals as Rosebud, The Clackamas Literary Review, The Santa Barbara Review, The Southern California Anthology, and The Gander Review. His stories are now available in two collections, The Middle-Aged Man and the Sea and Months and Seasons. He has four novels: The Brightest Moon of the Century, a story that Marc Schuster of Small Press Reviews describes as "a great and truly humane novel in the tradition of Charles Dickens and John Irving," his comic novel, Love At Absolute Zero. In addition, he has published two acclaimed crime books, Blood Drama and A Death in Vegas.
He began as a playwright and has had three plays produced. Who Lives? A Drama is published.
He began as a playwright and has had three plays produced. Who Lives? A Drama is published.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
April 23, 2020
Review of “Jerry with a Twist: a story of redemption”
By James Victor Jordan
Five Stars
Jerry, a talented but out-of-work actor, confronts a dilemma that unrelentingly twists his life—cognitively, emotionally, even physically at virtually every step. He’s been offered a promotion to assistant manager at his day job at Office Max, a new position that would obstruct his hitherto flexibility to appear at auditions. As his girlfriend is pregnant and the family will need the additional income, Jerry confronts a choice that would have confounded Thomas Hobson.
Just as James Joyce reveals so much by taking his readers along with Leopold Bloom through a single day in Dublin, Chris Meeks—with his usual incisive insights into his characters’ struggles and their condition in millennial American life—has us join Jerry during a morning in his hometown, Santa Monica. As the hours, each more tortuous than the next, unfold, the depth of Jerry’s anguish deepens: reality will not allow him to escape the near-certain futility of realizing his dreams or of reconciling them with the mistakes of his past.
While James Joyce was a trailblazer in the genre of literary fiction, Meeks surpasses him with crisp plainspoken prose abundant with brilliant humor and wit. Despite this stark contrast with Joyce’s convoluted storytelling, it is fair and instructive to compare Leopold Bloom’s twisted June 6th journey through Dublin with Jerry’s morning odyssey from his rent-controlled apartment to Santa Monica’s world-class beaches and an epiphany that would have been inconceivable when he awoke that morning.
Chris Meeks is one of those rare prolific and masterful writers whose stories and novels leave his audiences with a sense of satisfaction and an enriched view of the human condition and humanity.
By James Victor Jordan
Five Stars
Jerry, a talented but out-of-work actor, confronts a dilemma that unrelentingly twists his life—cognitively, emotionally, even physically at virtually every step. He’s been offered a promotion to assistant manager at his day job at Office Max, a new position that would obstruct his hitherto flexibility to appear at auditions. As his girlfriend is pregnant and the family will need the additional income, Jerry confronts a choice that would have confounded Thomas Hobson.
Just as James Joyce reveals so much by taking his readers along with Leopold Bloom through a single day in Dublin, Chris Meeks—with his usual incisive insights into his characters’ struggles and their condition in millennial American life—has us join Jerry during a morning in his hometown, Santa Monica. As the hours, each more tortuous than the next, unfold, the depth of Jerry’s anguish deepens: reality will not allow him to escape the near-certain futility of realizing his dreams or of reconciling them with the mistakes of his past.
While James Joyce was a trailblazer in the genre of literary fiction, Meeks surpasses him with crisp plainspoken prose abundant with brilliant humor and wit. Despite this stark contrast with Joyce’s convoluted storytelling, it is fair and instructive to compare Leopold Bloom’s twisted June 6th journey through Dublin with Jerry’s morning odyssey from his rent-controlled apartment to Santa Monica’s world-class beaches and an epiphany that would have been inconceivable when he awoke that morning.
Chris Meeks is one of those rare prolific and masterful writers whose stories and novels leave his audiences with a sense of satisfaction and an enriched view of the human condition and humanity.
Displaying 1 of 1 review