Tuesday, September 30, 2014

A Brief Moment of Weightlessness by Victoria Fish

A Brief Moment of Weightlessness by Victoria Fish

In this slim volume of 11 short stories, Victoria Fish leaves a big impression on the reader.  I want to briefly highlight four of her unique stories.

Where Do You Find a Turtle with no Legs?
Love this title for a story.  This story is told from 4th grade, Maddie's point of view.  It is about a family missing their dad and their visit to prison and how Maddie feels sick about the whole situation.

A Brief Moment of Weightlessness.
The title story.  This story is about a family and their visit to the cabin on the coast.  One of the daughters, Rosemary is only there because she is forced to go and so she is pushing the limits and wants everyone to be miserable.  The other daughter, Frances, is enthusiastic and is going to learn to row the boat this summer.  This is a well-written, truly lovely story about family.

The Sari.
Sarah is an American college student, studying in India and she is working on an Independent project.  She dresses like a male peasant for good reason.  This is a great story about the exchange of culture and ideas and of course, a sari.  Loved it.

Green Line
A former soldier in the Iraqi war is trying to put his life back together.  Except his life has changed so much, he doesn't recognize it and he keeps having flashbacks.  This story really made me think about how damaging war is to families.  Poignant.

I like to read a short story every Saturday.  Short stories make my day and this collection by Victoria Fish is a nice edition to my Saturday tradition.  Looking forward to reading more of her work.

Disclaimer: I Received this book from TLC book tours in exchange for an honest review.