by Amelia Gray
Paperback, 120 pages
Published August 1st 2009 by Featherproof Books
ISBN 0977199274 (ISBN13: 9780977199273)
Blurb
If anything’s going to save the characters in Amelia Gray’s debut from their troubled romances, their social improprieties, or their hands turning into claws, it’s a John Mayer concert tee. In AM/PM, impish humor and cutting insight are on full display. Readers tour the lives of 23 characters across 120 stories full of lizard tails, Schrödinger boxes, and volcano love. June wakes up one morning covered in seeds; Leonard falls in love with a chaise lounge; Betty insists everything except flowers are a symbol of her love for her husband; Andrew talks to his house in times of crisis. Written every morning and night for two months, these brief vignettes (50 to 100 words) recall Donald Barthelme in their whimsy and subtle yet powerful emotions. An intermittent love story as seen through a darkly comic lens, AM/PM mixes poetry and prose, humor and hubris to create a truly original work of fiction.
Mini Review
This was my first experience with “microfiction”, and I have to say that I will be getting my hands on more of this stuff as soon as I possibly can. While at times the very short length of each story (usually a paragraph or two) bothered me and I wanted more, it was still unbelievably impressive how Gray could convey so much in so few words. Over the course of the book, I felt like I really got to know the heart of each of the characters. I felt their happiness. I felt their sadness. I felt their frustration and their joy, and I saw myself in each and every one of them. These kinds of books that hold a mirror up to your life and make you see it for what it truly is are very rare, and I am so glad I picked this up. Poetic, heartbreaking, and at times even funny—you are truly missing out if you don’t read this.
Favorite Quote
"Love is intensity with less spectrum, sadness is spectrum with less intensity. Wallace believed in the horizontal nature of pain and the verticality of love."
Overall Rating
Instant favorite. I loved this so much.
