Customer Reviews

Referred Pain: And Other Stories

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The stories in this book open the window to the characters' minds. They live their public lives but we are allowed to share the private lives and their attempts to live with and avoid pain.

As always Lynne Sharon Schwartz's writing shines. Not a word is wasted. My favorite story was Deadly Nightshade. It is about a woman who breaks with the grandparents' warnings and dares to eat a "poisonous" tomato. "Nothing she did in later years came close to the elation of that single act of abandon. She was a daring woman who found no more opportunities for daring, or for the kind of daring peculiar to her, which was biting into the perilous unknown and letting it travel through her."

This was a short simple story which illustrates the book's theme of people living their lives wanting more of life but not being able to grab the brass ring for that second chance.

The stories will linger in your mind.

I loved the title story in this collection. Everything in it worked toward the perfect culmination. Some of the other stories fell a bit flat, and the ones that leaned toward the "experimental," only a couple, were not my cup of tea. Overall a very satisfying read.