The design and UX isn't done, Rob and Abbie, okkurrrr! 😌
vfrankel's review
4.0
One Hour by Todd Sullivan begins in a seedy urban world of drug abuse, teen angst, and violence. Some of the stories slip into the paranormal as one teen displays vampiristic tendencies and another succeeds in vanishing altogether. Though there are frequent allusions to magic, the stories contain much more of magical realism, evoking in the reader a sense of murky wonder at which events have truly occurred and which are lost in dreams and tortured perceptions.
The sinister tone changes as the book approaches its central narrative. "One Hour" is a tale of beauty in unexpected places, and that's exactly how it feels as the author lovingly describes each whiff of curry and crackle of duck at the surreal restaurant only open for an hour each night. It's run by an individualistic Bohemian with marvelous insights on a happiness that reaches out from the pages themselves to embrace the reader. From there, the collection continues through sensuous poems of inspiration and creation startlingly unlike the earlier stories in their smooth beauty, and yet continuing the characters' search to escape corporate conformity. How can we refuse society's expectations to write beautiful prose for poor wealth and weak security, they ask and answer as one. The final novella is "The Great Escape Artist," moving tale of a specially-challenged boy's growth from determined suicide to aspiring artist.
This collection devotes itself to inspiration and personal struggle, showing teens fighting overwhelming odds to create beautiful prose and master the angst in their personal lives. These are stories about writing, but also meta-narratives about the stories in the collection: Themes in the fiction and poems mirror each other, while character names in the poetry prepare readers for those same characters to resurface later. This is like a collection by Barth or O'Brian, whose stories all interlock and support each other, leading the reader on a post-modern journey from fragmentation to wholeness.
The sinister tone changes as the book approaches its central narrative. "One Hour" is a tale of beauty in unexpected places, and that's exactly how it feels as the author lovingly describes each whiff of curry and crackle of duck at the surreal restaurant only open for an hour each night. It's run by an individualistic Bohemian with marvelous insights on a happiness that reaches out from the pages themselves to embrace the reader. From there, the collection continues through sensuous poems of inspiration and creation startlingly unlike the earlier stories in their smooth beauty, and yet continuing the characters' search to escape corporate conformity. How can we refuse society's expectations to write beautiful prose for poor wealth and weak security, they ask and answer as one. The final novella is "The Great Escape Artist," moving tale of a specially-challenged boy's growth from determined suicide to aspiring artist.
This collection devotes itself to inspiration and personal struggle, showing teens fighting overwhelming odds to create beautiful prose and master the angst in their personal lives. These are stories about writing, but also meta-narratives about the stories in the collection: Themes in the fiction and poems mirror each other, while character names in the poetry prepare readers for those same characters to resurface later. This is like a collection by Barth or O'Brian, whose stories all interlock and support each other, leading the reader on a post-modern journey from fragmentation to wholeness.
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