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A review by jodyjsperling
This World is Not Your Home by Matthew Vollmer, Matthew Vollmer
5.0
"Supermoon", the opening story of this volume of short stories, surprised me to tears. Okay, so I am a bit of a crier, but the way I got pulled in was so eerie. The wife and husband going for their walk, leaving the twelve-year-old son at home for a short while was a near perfect mirror of nights I've shared with my wife, and how the man selfishly wanted to vent his "funk" but felt too guilty to speak because his wife's "funk" was more serious than his, it hit home. I'm blown away by how Vollmer created a story about love, not dysfunction, but sorrow, that echoed so subtly. Amazing story.
The title story doesn't let up on the emotional energy, but what really shines is the boldness of the second-person point of view. Not since Laurie Moore have I read a second-person that worked so well. If you don't wince at the drive-by description of the boy slicing his leg with a knife while jokingly performing a karate kick, you might not have nerves in your body...(and if you have a nerveless disability or a rare case of leprosy, please don't feel offended).
"Notes For An Essay on Special Music" is a great surprise as it changes in tone to a nonfiction essay, but it still reads so much like a short story. I didn't know Vollmer could tackle an essay as well as JoAnn Beard, but I'll never forget it now. Again, there's a bit of shorthand going on for me as I too grew up in the church and came to feel suspicious of it, much like Vollmer, but even if you're a lifelong aethiest, this essay will move you to consider the impact of music in impacting our passions.
I'd go on, but if you aren't willing to buy and read this based on the first three descriptions I guess the book aint for you, because every subsequent story and essay elevates the one before. It was a rare and grand pleasure to read!
The title story doesn't let up on the emotional energy, but what really shines is the boldness of the second-person point of view. Not since Laurie Moore have I read a second-person that worked so well. If you don't wince at the drive-by description of the boy slicing his leg with a knife while jokingly performing a karate kick, you might not have nerves in your body...(and if you have a nerveless disability or a rare case of leprosy, please don't feel offended).
"Notes For An Essay on Special Music" is a great surprise as it changes in tone to a nonfiction essay, but it still reads so much like a short story. I didn't know Vollmer could tackle an essay as well as JoAnn Beard, but I'll never forget it now. Again, there's a bit of shorthand going on for me as I too grew up in the church and came to feel suspicious of it, much like Vollmer, but even if you're a lifelong aethiest, this essay will move you to consider the impact of music in impacting our passions.
I'd go on, but if you aren't willing to buy and read this based on the first three descriptions I guess the book aint for you, because every subsequent story and essay elevates the one before. It was a rare and grand pleasure to read!