Customer Reviews

A Long Way from Disney: stories of the 1980s

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In a totally different vein from his crime fiction, the stories in A Long Way From Disney are poignant, insightful and portray the reflections of a modern life. Set in Boston in the 1980s -90s, each story is a snap shot that weaves together to paint a montage of the adolescence and early adult life of Adam Berkman.

For me, I found many similarities between these stories and my own experiences growing up in NYC in the same time frame. Seth's deliberate word choices and careful sentence structure help transform these stories from a fictional memoir into a work a modern literature.

"A Long Way From Disney" is a collection of tales which take the reader through the early life of Adam Berkman. Seth Harwood pens poignant tales relatable to everyone. They are revealing, honest and viceral.

Each time I read them, I am able to feel Adam's experiences and am brought back to those situations that forever changed me. Life should be lived and at intervals reflected upon. These stories are a must read for all - to recall who we once were, where we came from and how we wish to live our lives.

Part of what interested me in Harwood's crime fiction (JACK WAKES UP) was his background as a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop. As explosive as JACK WAKES UP is with action, this collection of 15 stories is powerful with slow-burning emotion. I especially recommend "What Happened to Everything," "Rebuilding Men," "Cherry Tree," and "Walden".

Every once in awhile something dramatic enters the marketplace where you are left wondering why didn't I discover this sooner. This is the case with A LONG WAY FROM DISNEY. Here lies a collection of thought provoking, soul searching stories that feel so real that you will be thinking about them long after you have put the book down.

Seth Harwood may be better known for his crime novel JACK WAKES UP, but here he shows his wide range of skills and his brillant insight into the lives of flawed characters and heartbreak. One of Harwood's strongest suits in his dialogue.

If you want a real treat for the holidays, check out this collection of short stories and maybe if we are all lucky Mr. Harwood will release another collection in the future.

I'm not sure I can add much more to the reviews that have been posted. However, I can say that Seth gives us a little piece of 1980's Americana in his stories. Take a trip into your past with Adam Berkman and relive those lost years. You won't be sorry.

I've listened to Seth's fiction since he began podcasting, so these stories aren't new to me. But, they represent part of a body of work that I have enjoyed since the beginning. Seth has leveraged all the tools that the Internet has given him to advance his career as an author and in the process exposed his growth as an author and his process in gaining his voice and audience.

These stories have a very personal feel and even though they are fictional - you feel the truth in them. You hear the life experiences that lie under them. As everyone has mentioned, they are unlike Seth's more hard-boiled crime fiction but they still come across clearly as his voice - his own take on the world around him. And to me that is one of the things that is so strong in all his writing. Seth has his own voice and he brings it out in all his writing honestly without trying to anonymize himself.

These short stories can each be read on its own in the time it takes to ride light rail to work or shut down for the evening. As a whole they have a common theme and story that comes out as you read them. I recommend them highly. You will come back to them again and again.

If you're used to his crime fiction, this will give you something a little bit different. Coming of age stories, stories about characters with normal human flaws and frailty. above all, these stories feel real.

The stories do share one important thing with his crime fiction - a writing style with a light touch. Harwood doesn't slap you in the face with his writing, even in an action scene. He allows his characters and scenes to head directly for the reader without the author getting in the way. So give Long Way from Disney a try and you won't be disappointed.

This was a very different Seth than I read in "Jakes Wakes Up". These stories were quieter, sometimes darker, and always poignant. Each story had it's own point but also weaved the larger tale as Adam balanced life between his two, not very balanced parents. The effects of divorce on Adam shows in his life decisions and, especially in his relationships. Seth's style isn't to bombard the reader with the obvious point of the story but to let the reader discover it. His level of detail is amazing and puts you in a place to see and feel exactly was Adam was experiencing. The story about Adam's reaction to the events of September 11, 2001 were especially compelling to me as someone who spent time working there. Seth knows how you grab you by the guts and bring you into the story. If you got a Kindle for Christmas, these should be the first stories you read. Great work, Seth. We're waiting for more!

My first exposure to Seth Harwood's work was via the podcast edition of his noir novel, Jack Wakes Up: A Novel. While I enjoyed that book, I have to say I enjoyed these stories even more.

The stories all have one thing in common: protagonist Adam Berkman. They follow Adam from boyhood through manhood, beginning with his parents' marital difficulties, then through the aftermath of their divorce, and finally on to his own induction to the world of adult relationships.

The collection runs the gamut from insightful to humorous to heartbreaking. I think anyone who's experienced divorce, whether as a party to the action or as a caring witness to the impacts it can have upon families, will find these stories resonating with realism and truth.

At the time that I write this review, there are currently 14 other reviews all with 5 stars. I am giving this 3 stars because I didn't find anything truly outstanding about this book.

Most of the stort stories are in a first-person point-of-view, as told by Adam. However, there are a few that are not and I found that confusing. Also, there is one story (Michigan) in which the narrator refers to himself as Noah. Who is Noah? Later in another story, when Adam speaks of losing his grandmother, I can only assume that it was Adam at the hosptial/nursing home. Why he said his name was Noah, I still do not know.

The final issue I have with the book is that some of the sentences I had to read over and over again. They were phrased so strangely that they barely made sense. I could have though of many other ways to have written those sentences and I am by no means a writer.

The collection of stories all and all were good, not great. The bottomline is: I wasn't hooked and I did not feel the urge to read every chance I got, as I do with REALLY good books.