Jeff Ewing
Paperback | Pages: 230 pages Rating: 4.15 | 68 Users | 60 Reviews
Specify About Books The Middle Ground: Stories
| Title | : | The Middle Ground: Stories |
| Author | : | Jeff Ewing |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Deluxe Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 230 pages |
| Published | : | February 19th 2019 by Into the Void |
| Categories | : | Short Stories. Fiction |
Commentary In Favor Of Books The Middle Ground: Stories
The middle ground is a place we’ve all crossed, the halfway point between who you are and who you want to be. In Jeff Ewing’s collection of stories, his diversely American characters call it home. From a story of a man living in the shadow of an abandoned missile silo that may hold the answer to a mystery of vanished children, to one of a small-town beauty tentatively courting stardom, Ewing’s sparse, musical prose illuminates lives lived in that space between fear and courage, hope and regret, life and death. Fog remembers, revenge beckons, and loneliness gives birth to fragile beauty—while in the distance the future gleams on a car hood, daring bold hands to seize it.Particularize Books Concering The Middle Ground: Stories
| ISBN: | 1775381307 (ISBN13: 9781775381303) |
Rating About Books The Middle Ground: Stories
Ratings: 4.15 From 68 Users | 60 ReviewsWrite-Up About Books The Middle Ground: Stories
Jeff Ewings collection of short stories, Middle Ground, has a soul similar to the writings of Annie Proulx and Cormac McCarthy. Whether its an observation exposing perspective (sibilants whistling from between clamped teeth) or dialogue baked with subtle hints (Its his Masterpiece. / Well yeah. But whats it supposed to be?) or description that establishes a theme (heres the thingand most people dont know thisthe fog has a false bottom), Middle Ground examines the blurred lines that connect aDon't miss this extraordinary debut collection from a writer of real humanity and skill.Ewing presents his broken, derailed characters in sentences of Hemingway-esque brevity and poise, painting a picture of what it is to live on the margins of American society, or even the margins of ones own life. As one character remarks in the story Crossing to LopezNot everyones cut out for...whatever. Success. Advancement.These grim aphorisms occur throughout Ewings stories. Other examples include People
From the first paragraph of "Tule Fog" you know you're dealing with writer of talent. Mr. Ewing has a knack for gorgeous setting and wry observations about life. I must admit, though, that this first story wasn't my favorite of the collection--I got a little lost halfway through. But don't let that first one put you off--the collection only gets better as you go. From the disturbing "Double Helix" to the odd "Repurposing", Mr. Ewing keeps his readers surprised--such a rare and wonderful gift.
California is a big state with an economy and geography larger than most countries. And yet, if you relied only on popular media you might think California is a state of nothing but fit, lean, tan people who live an hour or less (depending on traffic) from the coast. You might also think California is still a bridge to golden living, unbounded futures. This judgment, of course, would hardly be fair to the state, its people, and to the land itself. They all have their own logic. They all are
Jeff Ewings The Middle Ground is a collection of vignettes about Americans in settings ranging from desolate suburbia, through the hot flat valleys of California and an abandoned mine in Kentucky, to an alligator-infested lake in Florida, with one final, climactic look abroad at a bleak volcanic landscape in Iceland. I call these offerings vignettes, because most of them arent quite stories. Ewing gives the readers hints of stories, but rarely gives the whole story and leaves this reviewer
This is going to be a difficult review. Not because I have conflicting views of what I am going to say about the book as a whole but the fact that I finished it at a disproportionate time when compared with the time I started it and the time I have had it with me. The first thing I have to say is that the writing is impressive. It has a severe and profound tone to it, as do most of the stories within. They focus on smaller towns and people who live in such communities.It has considerably fewer
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