Customer Reviews

The Apple's Bruise: Stories

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Whenever I'm in a public place (a street, a shop, a diner) and I fall witness to the nakedness of some stranger's life (a raw argument, a flailing stumble, a too-much-information cell phone call) - I get this rigidness in my spine, feel a flush in my neck - like embarrassment or sideways guilt or even a funky kind of angry. Being that close to other people's unhemmed emotions (the ones they'd most likely prefer I weren't hearing and watching) well, it's just too real; ouch real. I hate it. But it thrills me, too, because somehow in those subverted slices of voyeurism - I feel less alone. I feel less awkward. I feel humbled and grateful, for reasons I cannot explain. I feel on the inside of a secret I can't quite puzzle out. A dangerous but delightful secret. I manage to be both "in the know" and still on the razor's edge of heightened mystery. (My favorite place to be!) Lisa Glatt's character's are this kind of authentic-unsettling, this brand of I-can't-not-look wreck. There isn't a single story in The Apple's Bruise that could evoke the remark: oh, it's just like That story by soAndso. Because each tale, each character, is utterly unmet in anything you've ever read before.

I loved this book. The quirky and wonderful people that populate these stories will break your heart and make you laugh and make you look at life in a new way. From the zoo animals dying to the little girl getting hit by a car to the mother who is attracted to her teenage son's friend -- the images and characters Glatt creates stay with you long after you've finished the book. Buy it, borrow it or steal it -- but read it!

I couldn't put it down! Her characters are quirkly, sad but inciteful, without the stereotypical cast of characters. Several stories leave a lot to the imagination. Instead of a beginning, a middle and an end, Lisa Glatt mostly shares just the middle with her readers as to how the characters will turn out. I loved it!

The people who inhabit Lisa Glatt's perfectly disturbing but often hilarious collection suffer from a common human failing. They lie to themselves (and often others) and, in the process, they tend to lose grasp of their identity sometimes leading to tragic consequences. In all, Glatt's stories are finely-painted little portraits of human frailty. Often with dark humor and always with a sharp eye for detail, Glatt makes us think about the lies we've told ourselves and, at the same time, forces us to ponder whether, given the opportunity, we would be strong enough to face the truth. [The full review first appeared in The Elegant Variation.]

The Apple's Bruise is a unique collection of strangely disturbing vignettes;(stories usually have a beginning and an end, while these little gems only consist of "middles"). The subject matter ranges from benign to perverse and everything in between. It won't take you long to read this slim volume, but it will take you longer to forget the oddities within.