Name: The Topless Widow of Herkimer Street
ISBN: 9780996195218

Jacob M. Appel

With compassion, wit, humor, and intelligence, these stories explore the gray areas of our lives. Echoes of myth, fairy tale, and fable flavor them, underscoring the eternal nature of both the human condition and storytelling itself.

Stories

The Topless Widow of Herkimer Street

A. D. Knapp

I received this book as a Goodreads giveaway.

Wow. This collection was so far and above what I'd expected when I entered for a chance at winning a copy. Jacob M. Appel's ability to fill a story with life and populate it with characters that feel real is among the best I've ever encountered. That he can then take those characters, quirky yes, but so grounded in everyday life, and thrust them into situations that are so off-kilter they almost border on the absurd and have it work, felt like a magic trick and I found myself desperately wanting to know how he pulled it off over-and-over again. 

He's also adept at setting things up that seem contrived (a weatherman dealing with Weathermen during a hurricane, a medical ethics professor's daughter ends up on life support with no hope of recovery) only to pull a living, breathing story out of an artificial-seeming set-up. It's like a great musician who can take a note that would seem derivative or corny if played by a less talented musician and bend it until it's something new and exhilarating. 

Hard to pick a favorite here as all of the stories are effective in one way or another. Pointing to the one that hit me hardest is easy, though. Bioethics for Dunces destroyed me. A month or so ago, I read a book titled Modern Death by Haider Warraich that set me up for this story to be particularly effective.

This is kindof random, but the single best line (or at least fraction of a line) I've read in a long, long time came towards the end of the last story of the collection, Long Term. "...a choice between isotopes of guilt." Simply brilliant. I think the word "brilliant" sums my feelings about this collection up nicely. Five stars.

The Topless Widow of Herkimer Street Stories