Customer Reviews

Rest Area : Stories

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I feel without reservation the Clay McLeod Chapman is a talented, skillful, imaginative writer. This collection of short stories can make provacative reading in small portions to digest between readings.I have seen some of Chapman's PUMPKIN PIE SHOWS wherein he and other actors narrate his tales injecting some humor and all the required intonations of a drama.Remarkable watching which is mirrored in the Rest Area reading.This authors first novel I find to be a valid measure of his continuing progress as an author. Having just completed an Advance Reader's Copy of Miss Corpus I think Chapman's growth is quite apparent in this moving, macabre and painfully detailed story of death and dispair. Two totally different love stories that come
crashing together. I digress

Clay McLeod Chapman has transferred his passion for dialogue very nicely into this attractive and important short fiction collection.

Coming froma drama background, Chapman is an expert at writing monologues. Rest Area is an expansion of some of his favourites. These stories are funny and rich; sad and dark. Chapman's evocative style presents his subjects not in a flattering light, but in the light that they are destined to have shone upon them. Like the characters in his plays, these people are flawed and real.

From an avid reader of short fiction, Rest Area is definitely worth picking up. The stories are very smart without falling into the esoteric category that kills so many other collections. A perfect balance of themes and characters ensures that the reader is captivated from first to last pages. The stories are jewels: short and concise; not a wasted word.

An excellent debut for a promising young writer.

Great work...I've seen Clay's plays in NY and am touched by the marriage of creativity, humor and other emotions. A strong recommendation for a discerning reader.

What I like about this author's writing is its directness - right into other people's minds: the tough deaf kid on the bus; the hotdog thief; a mother whose son has been killed in war; a father looking for his lost child.

20 strange, enticing stories from the insides of other's lives in all their mournfulness, their rage & loneliness. Clay McLeod Chapman knows how to write from a children's point of view, especially about how incomprehensible parents can be.

If you like short stories - don't miss this collection!

If you want a good book for reading on the subway, this is it. the stories are the perfect length for your daily commute (depending on how far away you live from work).

Also, they're probably too scary to read alone.

A man waits endlessly for his daughter to return from the bathroom at a rest stop. He asks all passersby if they have seen her. You'll never guess where she is....

Two deaf teenagers find a way to "hear" one another on a bus full of other deaf children...

A search party tracks through the woods looking for a missing teenage girl. Will they find her?....

A family on a campout gets more than they bargain for when they meet up with a Bear Scout....

A mother searches for her son's body in a field of post-war corpses....

Mary Brown's fisherman husband was lost at sea....or was he?....

These are just a few examples of the twenty short stories included in Rest Area by Clay McLeod Chapman. This book has a unique aspect...each story is the monologue of only one person. The reader only gets an idea of what the responses of others involved (if there are any) may be through what the main character says.

Also, there isn't necessarily a plot present. They are more like the narration of moments in time. The tales range from compassionate to eerie, shocking and just plain odd. It's a collection straight from the author's imagination.

This book requires a lot of concentration in parts, or the reader won't "get it." At times it's like trying to sift through a Chinese riddle to find the words that will explain the meaning.

Imagine listening to someone talking on the telephone, only one side of the conversation is audible. Sometimes it's easy to understand what the point of the discussion is, and sometimes it's virtually impossible.

One thing can definitely be said....reading this book is an experience like no other.

A fresh take on approaching the psychology of obsession. Clay writes from inside his character's heads; each story is authored by the person is seeks to depict. This could easily be over-ambitious if not for the startling realism which is shown with specific, unique perspectives for different characters. The rantings of an old lady protecting her home are jarringly reminiscent of real life, as are the numerous depictions of different characters all finding their own paths to insanity.

The stories in this book are incredible. A cross between poetry, monologue and prose, Clay Chapman packs a punch in very few words, and his stories are not easily forgotten.

mr. chapman's stories are haunting and absorbing. i could not put the book down from the moment i turned the first page. a direct descendant of edgar allan poe; mr. chapman's obsession with the weird and macabre is a must read!

I purchased this collection of short stories after a friend brought me to see the Author perform in NYC. I was visiting from LA and didn't know what to expect...

What I got was pure genius. Storytelling at it's finest. I had to purchase this collection immediately.

It's a perfect collection of some beautiful stories. Some beautiful, scary, funny, terrifying and sad stories.

I was amazed that simple words on a page could send such chills down my spine. Chapman has a gift for making the grotesque beautiful (and vice versa)and clearly has a love for language.

To use an overused term that is incredibly appropriate in this case, this young man is a MASTER STORYTELLER.

The only complaint about this book? I wish the author could read it to me. For not only is he a terrific writer, but a wonderfully dark performer.

Buy this book. I'm so glad I did.