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thekarpuk's review
3.0
The stories of Caleb Ross have a tendency to stick sideways in my brain. Most of them have interesting plots, poetic prose, and they flow quite nicely. The thing is, there's often an subtle element of surrealism that I can't quite pin down effectively. There seems to be one detail that's off, and the way characters react to it is never quite what I would have expected.
I went through the whole book with the feeling like it was a very lucid dream. Reaching the last page, I didn't have as much to say as I usually do about books. Perhaps it's the length, the book is around fifty pages, but I think it also has something to do with the stories feeling like complete thoughts. I just didn't see much I could criticize about the volume.
I went through the whole book with the feeling like it was a very lucid dream. Reaching the last page, I didn't have as much to say as I usually do about books. Perhaps it's the length, the book is around fifty pages, but I think it also has something to do with the stories feeling like complete thoughts. I just didn't see much I could criticize about the volume.
mrfrank's review
4.0
Caleb J Ross just gave me an 'eyegasam' reading his short story collection, CHARACTERED PIECES. His sensual words dances across my vision and stroked my being to full arousal. I can now count myself as part of the minions who heterosexually swoon at the words of Caleb J Ross. Thanks Bookedpodcast.com!
Charactered Pieces is a small collection of short stories that can best be summed up as examinations of the human condition. Familial relationships are dominant themes in this book and I've heard the term 'Domestic Fiction' or something akin to that used to describe the author's tendencies toward genre. Call it what you will, Ross has a unique way of describing human relationships. That more then anything is what is on display in this collection.
Typically I don't comment directly specific content in my reviews but I wish to break the rule here. The story, "An Optimist is the Human Personification of Spring" was moving. I have not had that deep an emotional reaction to a story in quite some time and I certainly can not recall ever being that emotionally vested in a story that short. Brilliant work there among a collection of already top notch writing.
I'm very glad I was introduced to Caleb J Ross from a great podcast (BookedPodcast.com). This is not the type of work I would have picked up off a shelf or internet browsing. I'm so very glad I was coaxed to read him though. I absolutely intend to further devour Caleb Ross' writing.
Charactered Pieces is a small collection of short stories that can best be summed up as examinations of the human condition. Familial relationships are dominant themes in this book and I've heard the term 'Domestic Fiction' or something akin to that used to describe the author's tendencies toward genre. Call it what you will, Ross has a unique way of describing human relationships. That more then anything is what is on display in this collection.
Typically I don't comment directly specific content in my reviews but I wish to break the rule here. The story, "An Optimist is the Human Personification of Spring" was moving. I have not had that deep an emotional reaction to a story in quite some time and I certainly can not recall ever being that emotionally vested in a story that short. Brilliant work there among a collection of already top notch writing.
I'm very glad I was introduced to Caleb J Ross from a great podcast (BookedPodcast.com). This is not the type of work I would have picked up off a shelf or internet browsing. I'm so very glad I was coaxed to read him though. I absolutely intend to further devour Caleb Ross' writing.
craigwallwork's review
5.0
Part of the curriculum of any swimming class is confidence in water. To demonstrate this, a child in their first year of high school will be required to jump, or dive, into the deep end of the pool and swim a full length using their chosen technique. I had, three years previous to this happening, passed both bronze and silver certificates in swimming lengths of the pool. However, I had never jumped into any amount of water that exceeded my height. It was a new school, with new friends and peers. I was as skinny white kid, half naked and scared witless that if I jumped, and couldn’t reach the bottom, I would drown. But equally, I was sacred that if I chickened out, my peers would ridicule me forevermore, and I would be known throughout the school, and most probably my hometown, as the boy who never dives.
The same feelings as I had as a twelve-year-old boy with toes were perched at the poolside rippled through me again when I picked up Charactered Pieces by Caleb J Ross. I had heard, from the reviews by authors like Stephen Graham Jones that this book can change you. I didn’t want to change; I was happy with my simple life. But equally, the fear of living a life without reading this book scared me more. So when I received my copy from the author, and it arrived with the mild scent of ACID cigars staining every page, I held my breath, counted to three, and jumped.
The characters observed through Caleb’s eyes are jaded. They are wistful and broken. They are no one we know, but each is familiar as a distant relative, or a story we heard a friend recount about “someone” they knew. And for me, that was the most haunting part of the experience. From the protagonist in the title story with her Fetus-in-Fetu sister’s leg hanging from her stomach, to the weekend father in The Optimist, all the way to the reflective father in My Family’s Rule, a part of their lives, good or bad, stays with you. You put the book down, and they’re still there. No matter how many showers you take, or other books you read, their lives are now in yours, and that is the power of Caleb’s writing. I remember when first reading The Optimist thinking it was similar to another story I had read, possibly by Michel Faber in his collection The Fahrenheit Twins (unsure without checking), and likewise, I began thinking it would end in a similar way, with the father repenting for his mistakes. In truth, as I neared the end, I allowed my guard down for this reason. This was my first mistake. Without giving too much away, Caleb sucker punched me, and I ended up having a physical reaction to that story. I had to stand up, walk out of the room and hold my baby daughter for a while. It was something visceral I rarely feel when reading stories, but there it was, forewarning that one should never assume that any story in this collection is predictable.
The title story was again, another revelation. Lori works in a jewellery shop selling “flawed” jewels to rich people and is struggling to cope with defects in her own life. Her mother, once a beautiful actress, but, due to a freak incident involving a shotgun and her face, now works as a sex line caller, constantly berates her daughter for being too ugly. In an attempt to “disguise” her daughter’s flaws, she employees a make up artist who does little but makes Lori feel worse about herself. And while worlds apart in life, the dead foetus of her unborn sister unites both mother and daughter with sickening, but humorous consequence. The story is beautifully told, and if there were any criticism to be had, I would say it ended too quickly. The characters were well observed, and the potential was staggering. For selfish reasons I latter approached the author in the vain hope he’ll address my plea to make this a novel. I’ll keep my fingers crossed on that one. But it goes to prove the desire Caleb’s writing evokes.
It is a great achievement for any writer to see their work in print, but to produce a piece that could, given time, be a significant bit of storytelling of our age, is awe-inspiring. For personal reasons I am indebted to Caleb for allowing me to read his work. Like the boy of twelve years, I jumped into those deep waters with little hope of ever resurfacing the same person, or ever resurfacing at all. I was anxious and fearful of the consequences. And just how being forced under the water allowed me to appreciate the world above it, by the same token Charactered Pieces forced me to take that first breath again after turning that last page with a greater appreciation of life, even if it is flawed and imperfect.
The same feelings as I had as a twelve-year-old boy with toes were perched at the poolside rippled through me again when I picked up Charactered Pieces by Caleb J Ross. I had heard, from the reviews by authors like Stephen Graham Jones that this book can change you. I didn’t want to change; I was happy with my simple life. But equally, the fear of living a life without reading this book scared me more. So when I received my copy from the author, and it arrived with the mild scent of ACID cigars staining every page, I held my breath, counted to three, and jumped.
The characters observed through Caleb’s eyes are jaded. They are wistful and broken. They are no one we know, but each is familiar as a distant relative, or a story we heard a friend recount about “someone” they knew. And for me, that was the most haunting part of the experience. From the protagonist in the title story with her Fetus-in-Fetu sister’s leg hanging from her stomach, to the weekend father in The Optimist, all the way to the reflective father in My Family’s Rule, a part of their lives, good or bad, stays with you. You put the book down, and they’re still there. No matter how many showers you take, or other books you read, their lives are now in yours, and that is the power of Caleb’s writing. I remember when first reading The Optimist thinking it was similar to another story I had read, possibly by Michel Faber in his collection The Fahrenheit Twins (unsure without checking), and likewise, I began thinking it would end in a similar way, with the father repenting for his mistakes. In truth, as I neared the end, I allowed my guard down for this reason. This was my first mistake. Without giving too much away, Caleb sucker punched me, and I ended up having a physical reaction to that story. I had to stand up, walk out of the room and hold my baby daughter for a while. It was something visceral I rarely feel when reading stories, but there it was, forewarning that one should never assume that any story in this collection is predictable.
The title story was again, another revelation. Lori works in a jewellery shop selling “flawed” jewels to rich people and is struggling to cope with defects in her own life. Her mother, once a beautiful actress, but, due to a freak incident involving a shotgun and her face, now works as a sex line caller, constantly berates her daughter for being too ugly. In an attempt to “disguise” her daughter’s flaws, she employees a make up artist who does little but makes Lori feel worse about herself. And while worlds apart in life, the dead foetus of her unborn sister unites both mother and daughter with sickening, but humorous consequence. The story is beautifully told, and if there were any criticism to be had, I would say it ended too quickly. The characters were well observed, and the potential was staggering. For selfish reasons I latter approached the author in the vain hope he’ll address my plea to make this a novel. I’ll keep my fingers crossed on that one. But it goes to prove the desire Caleb’s writing evokes.
It is a great achievement for any writer to see their work in print, but to produce a piece that could, given time, be a significant bit of storytelling of our age, is awe-inspiring. For personal reasons I am indebted to Caleb for allowing me to read his work. Like the boy of twelve years, I jumped into those deep waters with little hope of ever resurfacing the same person, or ever resurfacing at all. I was anxious and fearful of the consequences. And just how being forced under the water allowed me to appreciate the world above it, by the same token Charactered Pieces forced me to take that first breath again after turning that last page with a greater appreciation of life, even if it is flawed and imperfect.
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