The Remarkable Everyday

by Nena Skrbic (Introduction), Sarah James, E.C. Hudson

'The Remarkable Everyday' is something different – it offers a bridge between the short story and the novel, combining the unique qualities of both. Each story is fully developed with the novel’s classic beginning, middle and end and as separate entries they provide a fantastic range, each one offering something very different. The publication is made up of eight stories written by different authors with each one portraying a character for a single day (the story is named after that Thursday, Tuesday etc). Complete with an insightful introduction by leading short story scholar Nena Skrbic, 'The Remarkable Everyday' is entertaining, powerful and thoughtful all rolled into one. It takes the reader on a rollercoaster ride through different lives with their events, thoughts and changes - all contained within a single day. It offers something for every reader to identify with and enjoy. The stories range from a transsexual coping with her new body, prejudice and literary agents, to a cheating husband finding everything catching him up too quickly for comfort, to a widow dealing with age, her memories and a kilo of peaches. In addition, the reader is offered a glimpse into the life of a young black girl uncovering a hidden past, a woman looking back on a relationship slipping away and an advertising salesman turning a swanky meal to his advantage. Not only this but a moving story depicts a mother is slowly coming to terms with the worst form of tragedy and on a different day commuters packed on their morning train are thinking very different things.

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Brooks · Rating 1 out of 5]

I've actually read this book before, but didn't remember which probably says a lot about the stories. With the exception of "Thursday" found them all a bit dull - like the font & layout of the book.