Reviews

If You Lived Here You'd Already Be Home by John Jodzio

ericbermudez's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

alerner's review against another edition

dark funny reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

A huge fan of Knockout, another story collection of Jodzio’s, and couldn’t help comparing the two as I read this one. This still has his signature empathy even amongst the darkness but some stories just didn’t pack a punch.

sumaitaah's review against another edition

emotional funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.75

bibliocyclist's review

3.0

Steve Senior is a nice man with a thick head of wavy hair and hazel eyes. He brings grcoery bags brimming with soup labels for the class. You collect all the soup labels and the school gets something. I have yet to see what we get. In the end it is probably just more soup in bigger cans.

jodiwilldare's review

4.0

Hours after finishing “Gravity” one of the stories in John Jodzio’s debut story collection If You Lived Here You’d Be Home Already, I met with my writing group. As we talked about what we were reading at home, I started in with a rushed and breathless description of the story.

“It’s about this guy who is obsessed with throwing pennies out his office window. He’s on like the eighteenth floor. And as you keep reading you find out that his wife likes to have dangerous sex, and okay, I’m just going to ruin it for you right now and tell you the whole thing. . . ”

Then I told them the entire story, and we all exhaled at once.

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hollowspine's review

3.0

Things are swallowed that should not be swallowed, barnacles cling where they do not belong, experiments conclude in unexpected results and butterflies are freed. Jodzio tells his stories with a refreshing lightness, even in his characters often desperate situations. The stories flow well, creating a common theme of loneliness, attempts at self-realization and ploys for attention. His stories also have a lot of humor to them, but then again, something that might be funny to some, a gay clown receiving prank calls, Jodzio creates a very sympathetic and dramatic character, answering the phone every time, certain that his beloved missing dog is about to be returned. There was often an unexpected sweetness to the weird tales, something extra that took the stories from just funny and strange to quirky and haunting.

I enjoyed all the stories, some more than others, including favorites Gravity and Protocol. I look forward to seeing more stories from Jodzio.