Thursday, May 4, 2017

By the Wayside: Stories ~ REVIEW

BY THE WAYSIDE: STORIES
by Anne Leigh Parrish
Published February 8th, 2017 by Unsolicited Press
Paperback: 246 pages


Marvelous. Honest. Generous. From the first story to the last, "By the Wayside" catches your attention and demands that you give into its every whirl. Each character unfolds with a precision that will have you wondering how Parrish managed to create such real-to-the-bones people within a world that captivates you with ease.




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As a fan of short stories I was looking forward to devouring BY THE WAYSIDE but I hate to tell you that is not how it transpired. In this situation, I only read 60% of the stories due to legitimate circumstances. After years of reading short story books, I have constructed a strange pattern in the manner I read them, never from front to back. Therefore, I start with the first story which had me excited, more on that later, then the last, after that I jump around marking each story with a Post-it so I don’t overlook something essential in my review. I know you are thinking why am I telling you this? Hence, the stories were not holding my attention due to the fact the main points eluded me. Even short stories have a beginning, middle, and an end, but these felt as if a small section from a general book had been removed and just placed on the pages. Therefore, when I went back and looked at my Post-it’s all but one were revealing the same conclusion, little depth, dry writing style, and what was the author insinuating to the reader?

Nevertheless, I kept thinking about these stories on and off for days, as if they were haunting me, causing my mind to go rogue trying to figure out what this author was attempting to convey, eventually leaving me at a loss. All things considered, there is a story that I give high praise, please don’t fall over, AN ANGEL WITHIN the first one in the book. In contrast to the others, this contained uniqueness and the writing was impressive. Furthermore, it’s about an Angel that sits wobbly on the head of a pin in a woman's chest. So could you imagine my surprise regarding the rest of the book? In conclusion, remember though BY THE WAYSIDE was unbefitting to me realize you as a reader could fancy it.


Anne Leigh Parrish is the author of All the Roads That Lead From Home, stories (Press 53, 2011); Our Love Could Light The World, stories (She Writes Press, 2013); and What Is Found, What Is Lost, a novel (She Writes Press, 2014). Her new novel, Women Within, is forthcoming from Black Rose Writing in September 2017. Find Anne on Facebook, Twitter, and her website.




🚦TOUR STOPS:
Monday, April 3rd: Dwell in Possibility
Wednesday, April 5th: Patricia’s Wisdom
Thursday, April 6th: Lit and Lifeauthor guest post
Monday, April 10th: Bibliotica
Wednesday, April 12th: Mama Vicky Says
Thursday, April 13th: Bibliophiliac
Monday, April 17th: Books ‘n Tea
Wednesday, April 19th: Susan Peterson
Thursday, April 20th: Dreaming Big
Monday, April 24th: BookNAround
Tuesday, April 25th: Bookchickdi
Wednesday, April 26th: Maureen Downing
Thursday, April 27th: Lovely Bookshelf on the Wall
Monday, May 1st: 100 Pages a Dayauthor guest post
Wednesday, May 3rd: Good Girl Gone Redneck
Thursday, May 4th: Seaside Booknook
Friday, May 5th: Readaholic Zone


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