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ryan_lieske's review
5.0
A sterling, exciting collection from a powerful, emerging talent.
What's exciting about this collection from S.L. Kerns is not the stories—though they are all fantastic—but the voice. It is a voice that is both unique yet familiar at the same time, which I believe is the true gift of any great writer: that ability to tap into the reader's own joys and pains, and then to show them those same joys and pains in a new light.
Several of the stories here peel the scabs of our sadness, of our longing for a return to the past where everything seemed full of promise; the scabs of our ennui or anger. The hearts and souls of the characters are dissected and displayed, so that we might find the workings of our own hearts within.
Kerns deftly constructs his stories and characters in the much same way as King, Irving, and Steinbeck. Every description, every inner thought, every piece of dialogue rings true. Kerns also deploys irony in ways that will suck the breath from your lungs while wiping away tears at the thought of lost love, and lost potential. How life can often promise much, but not deliver; and how life often takes just at the very moment we are truly ready to receive.
This is a solid collection, an exciting heralding of a new and vital voice in the world of fiction. And one finishes the collection eager to see what Kerns has waiting for us on the horizon.
Consider me a lifelong fan.
What's exciting about this collection from S.L. Kerns is not the stories—though they are all fantastic—but the voice. It is a voice that is both unique yet familiar at the same time, which I believe is the true gift of any great writer: that ability to tap into the reader's own joys and pains, and then to show them those same joys and pains in a new light.
Several of the stories here peel the scabs of our sadness, of our longing for a return to the past where everything seemed full of promise; the scabs of our ennui or anger. The hearts and souls of the characters are dissected and displayed, so that we might find the workings of our own hearts within.
Kerns deftly constructs his stories and characters in the much same way as King, Irving, and Steinbeck. Every description, every inner thought, every piece of dialogue rings true. Kerns also deploys irony in ways that will suck the breath from your lungs while wiping away tears at the thought of lost love, and lost potential. How life can often promise much, but not deliver; and how life often takes just at the very moment we are truly ready to receive.
This is a solid collection, an exciting heralding of a new and vital voice in the world of fiction. And one finishes the collection eager to see what Kerns has waiting for us on the horizon.
Consider me a lifelong fan.
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