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What Can You Do

by Cynthia Flood

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314,093,212 (3.5)1
"In these twelve stories that unfold over a few hours or a weekend or five decades, adults deceive themselves about their motives - greed, desire for control, jealousy, fear, ambition. With unflinching realism, reminiscent of William Trevor, Cynthia Flood exposes the failings of the human heart and with a marvellous unsentimental brutality leaves many a character unredeemed."--… (more)
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The twelve stories in this collection are precise, intimate, and sometimes so elliptical as to be nearly opaque. Nearly. Flood demands an attentive reader, and possibly one who is willing to read slowly, aloud. Perhaps only then do the voices in her stories come alive. Often set as monologues with reported, real or imagined, dialogue, we encounter displaced individuals witnessing. Sometimes these witnessings are unsettling, as in the title story, or the penultimate tale, “Food.” Sometimes the perceptions of the narrator are suspect, either due to cognitive disorder or stress. “Wing Nut,” is a fine example. But also, “Struggle,” and, “Calm.” And sometimes Flood exquisitely renders systemic organizational fractures as in, “History Lesson(s).”

Flood’s stories are perhaps difficult to like, but easy to admire. They earn their often subtle observations and provoke new ones. All evidence of a confident but questioning writer in her prime.

Gently recommended. ( )
  RandyMetcalfe | Feb 1, 2018 |
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"In these twelve stories that unfold over a few hours or a weekend or five decades, adults deceive themselves about their motives - greed, desire for control, jealousy, fear, ambition. With unflinching realism, reminiscent of William Trevor, Cynthia Flood exposes the failings of the human heart and with a marvellous unsentimental brutality leaves many a character unredeemed."--

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