Scan barcode
A review by kawai
Refresh, Refresh by Benjamin Percy
4.0
One of the greatest characteristics of short story collections is the ability to read them in pieces. It's also what makes them easy to come back to: no long commitment, a choice to skip stories you've read before and didn't like, or an even deeper reading of those you have.
Percy's REFRESH,REFRESH benefited greatly from multiple readings. While the first time through I enjoyed the fast pace, and terse, declarative, muscular language, subsequent reads focused on the well-designed structure of the stories and the attention to detail given not only to the characters, but to their environments as well.
The stories range in specific focus and style, but all share an overall backdrop of rural Oregon, whether that's the violent life of a small-town Marine's son, or the struggling marriage of a couple that lives above a bat-infested cave. Some stories have elements of classic genre writing (horror/thrillers, in particular), while others tend more towards the classic 'literary' style.
Still, I loved many of the stories and will return to them more in the future, I suspect.
Percy's REFRESH,REFRESH benefited greatly from multiple readings. While the first time through I enjoyed the fast pace, and terse, declarative, muscular language, subsequent reads focused on the well-designed structure of the stories and the attention to detail given not only to the characters, but to their environments as well.
The stories range in specific focus and style, but all share an overall backdrop of rural Oregon, whether that's the violent life of a small-town Marine's son, or the struggling marriage of a couple that lives above a bat-infested cave. Some stories have elements of classic genre writing (horror/thrillers, in particular), while others tend more towards the classic 'literary' style.
Still, I loved many of the stories and will return to them more in the future, I suspect.