Grief is not the exclusive province of death and dying in Lynn Sloan's poignant short story collection This Far Isn't Far Enough. Rather, we experience loss, deeply, in the many ordinary gaps and failures of our lives, over and over again.
In these stories, we meet mothers who ache after the relationships they wish they had had with wayward children, and daughters who only truly know their mothers after they are gone. Lovers and spouses lead secret lives. Coworkers betray their colleagues. Caregivers are torn between the importance of their work and all they must give up to do it.
What struck me most in this collection was the understanding and compassion with which Sloan explores the complex feelings we have about the different ages and stages and roles in our lives. In one of my favorites, an aging actor acutely feels the loss of his youth and declining career, the loss of his beloved to dementia, and the physical, practical and economic challenges of properly caring for her. The reader feels his love, his frustration, and his sadness, but also is moved by the way in which memories of the theater sustain their connection.
This Far Isn't Far Enough debuts February 20 from Fomite Press. My thanks to the publisher for a complimentary advance review copy.
Happy reading!
I'm getting JUST old enough that I mourn my youth. In fact, Sick Boy from the movie Trainspotting 2 said it perfectly: "you're a tourist in your own youth." #depressing
ReplyDelete