Customer Reviews

Precarious: Stories of Love, Sex, and Misunderstanding

5 star:		(6)
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"Precarious" is an intriguing collection of true-to-life stories about the often complicated relationships between men and women. These life-like characters will immediately evoke people you know; your friends, neighbors, and maybe even yourself. Their anxieties, doubts, joys, and delights are the same ones all of us - or at least all men - have felt in one way or another. In my favorite story, "Your Eyes Only," Riske adds a bit of a sci-fi twist to probe our view of masculinity in a fascinating and unexpected way.

Riske is a skilled craftsman of language, providing just enough detail of the settings and characters to form them clearly without cluttering things and distracting from the story. His dialogue is tight and focused, and right on the mark. These are stories utterly familiar yet thought-provoking at the same time.

"Precarious" is a gem. A hugely talented writer, Al Riske beautifully captures the nuanced behavior of relationships and the universal struggle to understand why we do what we do. I defy anyone not to recognize him or herself in one of these stories.

The literary art and tradition of the short story is alive and well in "Precarious: Stories Of Love, Sex, And Misunderstanding" by Al Riske. This collection of fifteen short stories ranges from tales set in Seattle during the rainy season and California during an extended drought. From a Cape Cod vacation cabin to a get-a-way island. These are deftly written stories that not only entertain, but engender reflection long after they are finished and "Precarious" is placed back upon the shelf. It should be noted that one of these unique tales, 'Pray for Rain' won the 2008 'Blue Mesa Review' prize for fiction. "Precarious" is enthusiastically recommended reading for anyone who appreciates the literary artistry of the short story format, and an ideal addition for community library fiction collections.

I don't typically read short stories, preferring longer form fiction that allows me to lose myself in a fully developed narrative. Yet... there's something about Al Riske's writing that compelled me to keep turning pages. His economy of prose makes a novel feel almost bloated by comparison. He says so much with just a few words set off in quotation marks, that you feel as if each line of dialogue has whole chapters behind it. There's a bit of James M. Cain about his style, but with a more tender sensitivity to the emotions experienced only by those in the blush of their first romance or caught in the first missteps of otherwise well-plotted lives. Precarious contains wonderful variety and an unpredictability that fully pays off the promise, and the threat, of the title. I highly recommend it.

Riske's spare and thoughtful style remind me of Raymond Carver--but without the pervasive sense of despair. In these stories, love is still possible.

The subtlety of human relations is teased out in a comfortable and knowing way by Al Riske. Using clean writing that seems so rare these days, "Precarious" captures those human signals we know -- or think we know. Was that a knowing glance or just a friendly gesture? That hand on the shoulder - an invitation to more or just a motion of comfort? This collection of short stories is simply a pleasure to read - tales of life, told in such genuine human terms you hardly know the author's in the room!

You will want to find out what happens with Riske's people as he fearlessly explores the gritty underside of relationships, the uncertainty of sexual encounters, and the restless longing for love just out of reach. I was compelled to read all the stories in one sitting -- an undisciplined approach, just like some of his memorable characters.

One of my best childhood memories was summer break, when I could stretch out on a hammock with a stack of books next to me and just read. I've retained that love of reading over the years, and admit that with my Kindle, I've never been more hooked. But print or electronic, when I love a book, I reread it. So I find myself re-reading Elizabeth Stout's book, Olive Kitteridge, at the same time that I'm reading Al Riske's new book, Precarious, for the first time. What a lovely combination.

Al's book is a compilation of short stories, and what he shares with Ms. Stout is his ability to tell a good story beautifully. No gimmicks. No flash. Just wonderful storytelling, in all of its understated glory. These are stories that you find yourself in - the highest compliment I can pay an author. You see your own foibles and, if you're lucky, an occasional glance at your own grace.

Greedy reader that I am, the day Al's book finally arrived, I canceled all meetings and put chores on the back burner so I could curl up and read. But I found myself putting the book down after just the first story. Why? Because I didn't want to finish the book too quickly. These are stories I wanted to relish.

So I've rationed the book to myself, allowing only one story a day. It gives me something to look forward to, and a reward for being good - or a small piece of self-forgiveness if I haven't.

Find yourself a comfortable chair, a good light and a cup of tea. Open Al's book and be transported in the loveliest way possible.

Al Riske has hit a home run with this story collection. The writing is Hemingway lean and it's clear that one of Riske's strongest gifts as a storyteller is his witty dialogue. The stories dive fearlessly into such hot-button topics as religion, sex, gender stereotypes and infidelity. These stories have a quiet, steady momentum that creeps up on you, gets under your skin and stays with you long after you close the book.

A collection of fifteen modern short stories with various themes, including regret, loyalty, guilt, relationships, betrayal, love. Al Riske's talent lies in understanding human nature and creating very real and believable characters and dialogue within his entertaining stories. I enjoyed all of the stories, although some were definitely more polished than others.
The first story 'Sleeping With Smiley' is ,in my opinion, probably the best in the collection. A very well written story about misplaced loyalty and regret. Some other stand-out stories were Your Eyes Only and Hold On.

All of the stories are fun and interesting to read, the only issue I had was that many of the endings seemed too abrupt or just not satisfying. This is a pity because with a bit of work on the endings this would have been an outstanding collection. The writer is obviously talented because he knows how to hold a readers attention, and the prose flows well. An example of a great ending is the end of 'Sleeping With Smiley', where the reader is left with a thought-provoking sentence which brings to mind the events of the story in a poignant manner.

As a short story writer myself, I believe that the hardest part of writing a short story is writing a good ending. Because there are a limited amount of words in short fiction, it's more important that an effort should be made to write an ending that will satisfy the reader and tie up any loose ends. A bad ending can make or break a short story, in the same way that a good ending can turn a mediocre story into a great one. Indeed, it's much harder to write a good short story than a good novel.
In conclusion, I would say that Al Riske has done a brilliant job writing these stories, all of them containing insightful prose and true to life characters. Most of the endings didn't work for me, but other readers may have a different opinion.
Reviewed by Maria Savva as a reviewer for Bookpleasures.