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The Memory of a Salt Shaker (The Space Within These Lines Book 1) by [Bernard M. Cox]

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Bernard M. Cox

The Memory of a Salt Shaker (The Space Within These Lines Book 1) Kindle Edition

by Bernard M. Cox (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

64 ratings

Book 1 of 3: The Space Within These Lines

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Bert discovers the salt in an ordinary salt shaker gives him the power to see his life through the eyes of his deceased wife. This fabulist short story is the first story in The Space Within These Lines collection exploring memory and loss in an effort to show that which connects all people, the power of love.

The Memory of a Salt Shaker first appeared November 2011 in issue 15 of Up The Staircase Quarterly and was nominated by the editorial staff for the 2012 Million Writers Award.

Cover design by Sabine Krauss
Photo by Robyn Oliver

Total page count 20

Print length

23 pages
Language

English
Publication date

November 19, 2012
File size

156 KB
Page Flip

Enabled
Word Wise

Enabled
Enhanced typesetting

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Editorial Reviews

From the Author

The Memory of a Salt Shaker is the first in The Space Within These Lines collection of short stories.

Other stories in the collection include:
The Space Within These Lines Is Not Dedicated -- now available on Amazon.
La Chanson de l'Observation -- now available on Amazon.

About the Author

Bernard M. Cox is the author of The Memory of a Salt Shaker, The Space Within These Lines Is Not Dedicated, and La Chanson de l'Observation.

He has taught fiction writing, screenwriting, literature, and composition; curated an experimental music concert series called FeedBack; ran a staged reading series for screenwriters; served as Assistant Artistic Director for the Tamale Hut Café Reading Series in North Riverside, IL; and served on the Board of Directors of the University City Arts League in Philadelphia. He currently volunteers in the San Diego LGBT community.

His writing has appeared in A cappella Zoo, Blood and Lullabies, Collective Fallout, Crack the Spine, Red Lightbulbs, and Up the Staircase Quarterly.

Product details

ASIN : B00AA2JXB0
Publication date : November 19, 2012
Language : English
File size : 156 KB
Simultaneous device usage : Unlimited
Text-to-Speech : Enabled
Screen Reader : Supported
Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
X-Ray : Not Enabled
Word Wise : Enabled
Print length : 23 pages
Lending : Enabled

Best Sellers Rank: #4,078,869 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #9,496 in Literary Short Stories
- #20,124 in Romance Literary Fiction
- #22,110 in Magical Realism

Customer Reviews:
64 ratings

Customer reviews

5 star		43%
4 star		29%
3 star		10%
2 star		15%
1 star		3%

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Top reviews from the United States

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Kindle Customer

Poignant

Reviewed in the United States on February 13, 2020

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I only wish there had been more salt! A lovely idea that was well-executed. It’s a new perspective on grief.

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angie'sreadaholic

The Memory of a Salt Shaker

Reviewed in the United States on February 1, 2015

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The Memory of a Salt Shaker is a very unique book. The concept of the story is original and engrossing. Sometimes short stories can lack in completeness but not this one. The book was a full complete story that did not leave you wondering about anything. I would recommend this book to anyone. It is a wonderful read. I do not want to write anything about the actual story because I do not want to give anything away.

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Life is lived in moments ...

Reviewed in the United States on June 14, 2013

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Life is lived in moments. To understand this is to understand remembrance. In "The Memory of a Salt Shaker," a lifetime is lived in the seemingly random snippets of that same life. It's a short story that feels like a lengthy one because the narrative is so nicely built upon the sensory experiences of the protagonist. Touch, smell, sight and sound are all present, but taste is the dominant experience.

"He cooks. A small pleasure to him, the food adds scents and heat to the house, adds presence."

Taste is everything for this grieving man, especially salt. The salt in Bert's salt shaker triggers those memories of his past that will get him through the present and help him forget the future. But they are not Bert's memories; they are his dead wife's. Don't we all dream of seeing our lives through the eyes of another?

Though the relationship between taste and remembrance recalls Marcel Proust's "À la recherche du temps perdu," Bernard M. Cox's protagonist is certainly haunted in a way that is arguably more detrimental to his mental state. A work of magical realism, and a narrative reminiscent of Kafka and Camus, "The Memory of a Salt Shaker" is tightly written with sharp sentences that waste no time getting to the point.

One person found this helpful

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Red Apple ReaderTop Contributor: Coloring

Outstanding Short Story

Reviewed in the United States on October 4, 2017

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This short story caught me by surprise. Raised lots of questions and kept me reading. Every scene brought me closer to understanding what was happening, and the brilliance behind the storytelling. What a happy surprise! Kudos to Mr. Cox.

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MaxsMom

Something Different

Reviewed in the United States on February 17, 2013

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This was a book that was different from those I usually read. It was a novella not really a book.
One assumes that the person is just going crazy but further reading tells a different story. It is a
quick read and not bad, just not what I expected or would pick to read.

Helpful

Short story about loss

Reviewed in the United States on February 8, 2018

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Clever story about an accountant dealing with his wife's murder. Salt shaker is the key to their courtship memories, well used.

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Kevin Moore

Very flavorful story

Reviewed in the United States on January 12, 2014

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The Memory of a Salt Shaker by Bernard M. Cox is a very interesting and engrossing short story. I was poking around the Kindle store looking for titles that might pique my interest when the simplicity of the cover caught my eye. So props to the designer and photographer, Saline Krauss and Robyn Oliver. The basic premise of The Memory of a Salt Shaker is that our unfortunately-named main character, Bert, is just returning to work as a CPA after three weeks bereavement following the death of his wife, Mira. He seems to be doing okay until the salt in his salt shaker begins giving him visions of memories of he and his late wife together. Interestingly, and this is what I think makes this story unique, the memories are from Mira's perspective so Bert gets to experience, for example, how she felt when they first met. Bert eventually figures out the connection between his visions and the salt, and as one would expect from a newly grieving husband he becomes more and more dependent on the last bit of his wife he can hold on to. The author reinforces this connection pretty well by describing Bert as taking "hits" of salt. This was a great story. The characters were lively and well-defined, and the narrative (particularly the visions) were very picturesque. I could see this being a movie with like Bradley Cooper and Olivia Wilde at the helm. Overall, the whole thing just felt organic. All of my praise being said, I do have a couple of issues with this story that keep me from giving a full five stars. The first is that Mira's connection to the salt shaker is not fully defined. Bert tells a psychic medium he consults that Mira stole the shaker from a diner during their honeymoon, but I was still left wondering why this was apparently her most treasured possession that she'd choose to "haunt" it. (Haunt may not be the author's intention but it's the best word I could come up with). The second issue I had was with the ending. It's not that the story had a bad ending, it just didn't work for me. I felt it was a little truncated and didn't fit with the direction of the rest of the story. But I know there will be plenty of readers who completely disagree. Anyway, despite a couple issues this is still a great 20-30 minute read that literary and perhaps maybe romance fans will enjoy.

Helpful

Debbie

Reviewed in the United States on February 23, 2013

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It was a very emotional story, however there was no outcomes resolve. I felt that something was left out, nothing for me to learn or look back on with a need to remember. Lots of emotion well expressed but I felt it was not complete.

2 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Richard

Affecting, understated tale of bereavement

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 16, 2014

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I found this on my Kindle iPad app, not being quite certain how I had acquired it: perhaps as a free promotional copy in some late-night book-downloading spree, or maybe I saw it reviewed in a newspaper or blog and took a punt.

It details, in a clipped and spare manner, the progressive mental and physical disintegration of Bert, a thirtysomething American lawyer whose wife, a teacher, has been murdered in a heartbreakingly senseless attack by two young pupils at her school, angry at the confiscation of an iPhone. The author delivers an effective, economical portrayal of the numb shock of bereavement, and the submerging of the psyche that may afflict the bereaved. Bert's only physical connection with his dead wife is a workaday object, a salt-shaker that she took from a diner on their honeymoon. Tasting the salt somehow allows him to access memories of their life together (yet from her point of view, not his). However unlikely this is, I found it didn't matter too much in the context of the story.

Not being an American (let alone a New Yorker) or overly familiar currently with American culture and speech, I wasn't able to fill in the sounds, sights and smells mostly absent from the prose (which is, I guess deliberate), I still found the story affecting and a little moving, yet not uncomfortably so. Overall, I found it quite a tasteful and understated piece, like something that unexpectedly draw you in from your routine, read in a short timeslot on Radio 4 (or NPR) late one evening. I was surprised in the end by how much I liked it, as I considered giving up a couple of times, despite it being very short. Although the tone is one of sadness, I don't feel that the book is likely to cause feelings of depression, and ends on a positive (yet still understated note). Recommended.

Kindle Lover

Short but sweet

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 13, 2013

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In the competitive world of online publishing, a good title is always a boost -- and that was what first drew me to "The Memory of a Salt Shaker".

The main character, Bert, "Discovers the salt in an ordinary salt shaker gives him the power to see his life through the eyes of his deceased wife". It's an interesting premise, and I was glad I stumbled across TMOASS. As a personal preference, I don't normally like stories told in the present tense, but The Memory of a Salt Shaker is so lovingly-written I overlooked that little niggle.

It may be short, but this book is so very sweet.

ramblingsofanelfpire

A short poignant read that is surprisingly poetic and deep

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 5, 2013

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A short yet poignant read with a poetic writing style made up of short straight-to-the-point sentences, making this a really quick short story, yet beautiful. The integration of the past and the present, together with the idea of using the salt shaker as such an important piece of mystery, made this book a great little read that I would highly recommend.

FiggyB

Poignant and succinct

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 5, 2013

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This is a very short book, only 24 pages long. I bought it as the premise appealed to me. It is very neatly written, and very moving. Anyone who has ever experienced the loss of a loved one will resonate with what's written here. I enjoyed it a lot, in a wistful kind of way.

Toby Wallis

A moving story of loss

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 23, 2013

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A compelling and enjoyable short story. Like the best magic realism it takes a simple idea - that the memories of a lost love are stored inside a little salt shaker - and uses it to explore more complex human qualities. It is written with a staccato style of writing that suits the story nicely, using tiny sentences like tiny grains of salt. A moving story of loss, thoroughly enjoyable and highly recommended.

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The Memory of a Salt Shaker (The Space Within These Lines Book 1) Kindle Edition

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