Cinderbox Road & Other Stories by Scott Geisel

I went to a reading/talk by Scott Geisel yesterday and enjoyed what I heard, so I bought this collection of some of his short stories. They're all very neat little stories about people and life.

Too vague?

Well, I've found he has a pretty predictable style. He basically starts with a character doing something then getting interrupted by another character, a deeper and graver issue is revealed, the characters explore their relationship through dialogue and awkwardness, and they either make peace with the issue or leave the future open-ended.

So now I guess you don't have to read the stories, because that's pretty much the plot of each one. But they are cute stories to read. Feel-good kind of stuff, but with maybe a tad more edge or emotional depth.

My favorite story of the bunch, and the one that I think sticks out the most by not quite fitting his usual mold, was "You're Not the One." It's about a woman who follows a dream to Columbus, where she meets a man who dreamt about meeting her. I don't really fully understand the ending, but it made me think about fate and communication and how we relate to each other as individuals. It also really made me want to twirl. And visit Grandpa's Cheese Barn.

~6/10~