Small Spaces between Emergencies [Hardcover]

Alison Moore (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1992

Small Spaces between Emergencies explores the ways people find the strength to plunge back into life after pain and trauma. In "Turnaround, " Ed, who has fled from life's responsibilities, arranges to meet Jonas, the young son he has not seen in six years. Although they meet at the Greyhound terminal like strangers, Ed and Jonas emerge triumphant from their past, teaching each other the patience and self-assurance to trust their respective roles as father and son. In "Leaving by the Window, " Matty and her father drive from state to state, traveling through the landscape of memories that make up her father's life. To escape his quixotic tales of the past, she runs away, seeking her own adventures. When her father comes to retrieve her, she tells him her stories, but leaves out the pain and humiliation she endured. As they realize that there are stories they cannot share, both reach a new level of understanding and acceptance. These stories capture the process of rediscovery that is the essence and the adventure of living and growing. They are affirmations of the triumph of the human spirit in a world of adversity.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Moore's noteworthy debut collection of 11 stories features restless, lonely individuals who invite strangers into their lives. These characters often lose a parent or mate to death or divorce, and their quests to recapture feelings of wholeness yield unexpected resolutions. In the affecting "Leaving by the Window," a widowed man compulsively visits sites from his past and brags of his youthful adventures until his impressionable daughter's own wanderlust brings heartbreak. Another strong tale, "Lake Effect," describes an angry, jilted Arizona woman who drives throughout California to perform an improvised cleansing ritual in various lakes and finds true salvation in her blind trust of a fellow vagabond. The poignant "News from Another World" introduces a Brooklyn nursing home resident who temporarily kidnaps a baby and escapes to a local park, pleased that, if only for a few hours, she appears as a self-sufficient grandmother with family of her own. The desperate intensity that fuels Moore's protagonists is portrayed more effectively in some of these tales than in others, but on the whole, grief, disappointment, optimism and recovery are depicted memorably.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

This collection of short stories is extraordinary. Moore describes the common and sometimes inevitable hardships that invade everyday life; then, as the title implies, she inserts a small space where a ray of sunlight appears. Thus, in "News from Another World," an elderly woman has a true adventure by simply walking away from her rest home, while in "Turnaround," a man gains self-confidence by renewing his relationship with the son he has not seen for six years. Throughout, Moore highlights the things on which human happiness hinge--a look, a touch, a word, a gesture--crafting her stories with exquisite care to illustrate the fine balance we maintain between despair and hope. The stories are compelling in their ability to remind readers that it is truly the little things that make a difference. Highly recommended for all libraries.
- Joanna M. Burkhardt, Univ. of Connecticut at Torrington Lib.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 184 pages
• Publisher: Mercury House (June 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1562790226
• ISBN-13: 978-1562790226
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,107,679 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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