John Rolfe Gardiner

I don't often read short story collections, but this book was quite aptly titled because its stories are truly "north of ordinary." I was captivated by the first story about a young man who doubts his own abilities until he is shown unexpected kindness by an unlikely mentor. Another favorite was the deaf child who gave and received kindness and acceptance from a transvestite neighbor. These are all ordinary people living ordinary lives, many of whom are transformed by extraordinary show more kindnesses and life events.

My thanks to LibraryThing and the publisher for the opportunity to read this noteworthy book, which I may have otherwise bypassed. show less

…Gwen believed it was stories that were eternal, not the body or the soul. from North of Ordinary by John Rolfe Gardiner

As I read each story in North of Ordinary, I liked each one best.

They feel real. Consider Their Grandfather’s Clock in which a girl’s Life Class inspires her to ask her mother, “Mom, what do you say when you want Dad to put seeds in you?” I was blindsided by a similar question from my first grade son one morning as I pulled into the church parking lot, late for show more worship. “Oh, the sweet innocence of a daughter whose Life Class had jumped so far ahead of a mother’s consel,” Gardiner writes.

They are funny. Consider the opening line of the first story: “You’re as likely to be hit twice by lightning as see a wood chipper pull a man into its may.” You laugh, and then are ashamed, considering the dark event implied.

They are surprising. In Freak Corner, a deaf teenaged girl and a neighbor man in his late twenties who has suddenly identified as a woman form a friendship, both victims of harassment. There is an unexpected reveal at the end.

The setting and stories were inspired by overheard conversations and observations from Gardiner’s own home region in Northern Virginia.

The stories each have an illustration that shows hands, reflecting an image from that story.

One of my favorites is “Virgin Summer” about a teenage boy who is an exchange student to France. He is taken in by a family struggling with the legacy of WWII. “Every time a name goes up on the French honor roll, someone comes out of the past to erase it.”

In “Survival”, an aging man’s walk ends with a challenge to his perceived family history.

An enjoyable collection about people just ‘north of ordinary.’

Thanks to the publisher for a free book. show less

North of Ordinary by John Rolfe Gardiner is an exceptionally well-written, very highly recommended collection of ten short stories. The introduction is written by Christopher Benfey and the illustrations are by Maria Nicklin.

All the stories in this collection are character studies of a variety of characters across a span of different years. The insightful writing handles the failures and struggles of his characters in a thoughtful, profound manner, revealing moments in their individual lives show more with discernment. As with any short story collection some stories will resonate with different readers more than others, but as a whole this is an exquisite collection that most readers will greatly appreciate.

The stories include:
Tree Men: a college student takes time off and works for a tree service.
North of Ordinary: a man remembers a flirtation with a female classmate at a strict Christian college
Freak Corner: the narrator reflects on what his deaf sister and a transgender neighbor experienced at the hands of the neighborhood bullies, the Knox brothers, in the 1950s.
Their Grandfather's Clock: a grandfather along with his younger second wife visit his daughter and her family.
Virgin Summer: a young man on a student-exchange trip to France is taken as a last minute exchange of host families to a villa and experiences some historical and social enlightenment.
The Man from Trenton: a writer with his wife on an Amtrak quiet car are beset with a loud man on speakerphone and a confrontation ensues.
The Voice of the Valley: the postmortem tale of an ambitious and wily women who bought a tiny radio station.
Familiars: two couples who’ve taken vacations at a North Carolina beach house together for 17 years find their friendship begins to wear thin.
In the Time of Magic: a man who is a university's returning scholar after a five year gap shares his story with another older student.
Survival: Lester, a frail elderly man, recounts the story of each house he passes as he walks to a graveyard.

Gardiner is truly a master maker of sentences. Thanks to Bellevue Literary Press for providing me with an advance reader's copy via LibraryThing. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

Links:
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2025/01/north-of-ordinary.html
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7199836022
https://www.bookbub.com/books/north-of-ordinary-by-john-rolfe-gardiner?source=li...
The review will be published on Edelweiss, Barnes & Noble and Amazon. show less

To borrow the book’s title for this review, these short stories are most definitely north of ordinary. And while I liked almost all of them, I really didn’t love any. If I were to read these again at a later date, I may think differently. I sense each story carried a punch I was just short of feeling.