Customer Reviews

From a Distance

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Each story is a glimpse of a foreing land, sprinkled with the common thread of what can only be described as the human condition. I was startled by the similarities in feelings like love, loss, attaining or not attaining status quo in a backdrop so starkly different from what I'm used to. A glimpse of the unknown and a surprising glint of the recognizable! The stories are gems, gleaming with fresh visions and turns of phrase, and a gamut of emotions. Fools for love, foolish Americans, superstitious matriarchs, naive little sisters... The stories of these people and this land have been presented honestly and without a trace of either condescension or favoritism. The reader is able to experience the snippets of lives as they occur, to marvel at the similarities, and to appreciate the differences.

I never wanted the book to end. Every story, every person is throbbing with life and passion. Every event and every heartbreak is as real as your own. If you do nothing else this summer but read this book, then you will have enriched and deepened your own existence. I look forward to reading every word this wonderful author writes. I know you will treasure From A Distance just as I do.

Joseph M. Faria's From a Distance reflects the unique landscape of the Portuguese island of San Miguel in the Azores alive with the sins and virtues of its people, their fears and hopes.

In the book's engaging format Jim, an American writer of island ancestry, observes the vivid dramas which play out in a small-town bar. Some of these scenes arise from the presence of tourists, others are strictly a local product:

"A girl sitting at the end of the bar, covered her face covered with an elegant, thought-provoking hand. She worked for the IRS and the short creepy guy sitting next to her was her boss. He had fired the girl for pilfering. He was trying, unsuccessfully, to comfort the guilty party."

Alternating with these short chapters, are a dozen exemplary short stories. Among them: teen-aged Gil searches for his sister Celia, whose dream of becoming a movie star has led her astray. "Papa was burning mad when she didn't show for supper, and as usual mama sat at the kitchen table wilting in silence." Jorge, a taxi driver, takes Manuel to see a prospective buyer for his four acres of corn. "A feast for any cow." Isabell inquires of the fishermen for news of her husband. "The fishermen ignored her, fearing the sea's wrath."

Maria, long-married but enamored of her visiting American cousin, tells him good-by. "She saw her body drift toward the edge of his arms."

Faria's elegant landscape descriptions tie it all together:

"Beyond the trees and beyond the walls, a series of low rolling hills of tea, where women with bright blue handkerchiefs tied around their heads, were harvesting the tiny green leaves into aprons tied around their waists. The women looked pregnant, from a distance."

His clear-eyed, yet tender, gaze illuminates the islanders and brings them close, as close as next-door neighbors. The end is reached too soon.