vetroff

Friends have suffered with me as I've whined about every Pulitzer winner I've read that was a book of stories. Well, struggled through. I don't say "short stories" because, to me, a short story is 10 p. or less. With each of the others, I had to push myself to finish each story, setting minimum page limits to read each day and rarely meeting that minimum. Thank heaven for library policies allowing multiple renewals. But I digress. Good Scent from a Strange Mountain was the opposite. I enjoyed every story. I loved the wide variety of voices and subject matters. Most of all I loved the story-telling. I came to care quickly about each of the characters, feeling that they may well be my neighbors. Each story felt complete in itself without leaving the uncomfortable feeling of "now what?". It is as if you, the reader, are handed an interesting photograph and the author says "let me tell you what led up to this picture". And then with deft skill, he guides you there, through the ups and downs and sideways slips. You always know how the story will end because of the photograph. Still, when he finishes the tale, you now understand the poignancy of pathway that led to the photograph. Excellent, excellent book. Especially for a book of stories. Butler is a masterful story-teller of the old school -- real life, not New Yorker snobbery.

2022-11-14 13:55