⇒ Libro Gratis Einstein Beach House Jacob M Appel 9780984940585 Books

Einstein Beach House Jacob M Appel 9780984940585 Books

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Einstein Beach House Jacob M Appel 9780984940585 Books

Jacob Appel’s new set of short stories is uniformly interesting, quirky and well-written. The question is—are they stories or are they tales? Tales (as in Kafka or Isak Dinesen/Karen Blixen) are the short counterpart of romances (as in The Scarlet Letter or Moby Dick); they are thought pieces in which the setting is somewhat stylized and the ideas are more important than the characters. Appel’s tales make use of such devices as genre shape-shifting and magic realism. For example, the last piece in the collection, “Paracosmos,” concerns a little girl and her imaginary friend. The girl is too old to have such a friend and her parents are worried. Suddenly, a man appears at the door and tells the mother that he is the father of the imaginary little girl (though he claims she exists). The mother has a month-long affair with the imaginary little girl’s father. Suddenly she no longer sees him. When her husband comments on the personality of the imaginary little girl’s mother, his wife fears that he has had an affair with this woman. The (real) couple divorce and the mother buys her daughter a macaw, a bird reminiscent of the imaginary bird possessed by the girl’s imaginary friend.

In some stories/tales there are elements of the gothic and of horror. In “The Rod of Asclepius” a man dresses up like a doctor and takes his daughter to hospitals. His wife has died as a result of medical malpractice and he is taking his revenge for her death by murdering (in medical fashion) a series of individuals close to medical personnel. After seeing his private actions impede his opportunity to build a new, transparent relationship, he ends by asking his daughter to inject him with salt water. The daughter knows that the syringe contains more than salt water and that he is asking her to murder him, thus keeping him from killing others and making her, in effect, a saver of lives.

A number of the stories contain comic elements. Common threads include a Manhattan or near-Manhattan setting and Jewish protagonists. As a physician, attorney and bioethicist Appel knows all of the worlds which constitute the ethos and subject of his stories. He is a very clever writer who combines a very active imagination with technical knowledge of his subjects. Readers who enjoy quirky and fresh narratives will enjoy this new collection. With the possible exception of “Strings,” a story about a female rabbi who is asked to make available her synagogue for a musical performance involving hundreds of cellos, all of the stories are successful and memorable.


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Einstein Beach House Jacob M Appel 9780984940585 Books Reviews

The stories in the excellent EINSTEIN’S BEACH HOUSE were originally published in eight different literary journals, including Nimrod (University of Tulsa), Tusculum Review (Tusculum College), Pleiades (University of Central Missouri), and Sonora Review (University of Arizona). Certainly, this demonstrates that fine stories continue to debut in our literary magazines. Furthermore, the publisher of EBH is Pressgang, which is a small press affiliated with the MFA program in creative writing at Butler University. Anyway, it’s great to see talent gaining recognition in the journals.

Jacob M. Appel has written eight terrific standalone stories in EBH. Even so, there are interesting connections between pairs of stories in this collection, which show that Appel is a short-story writer with great creative range and flexibility. For example

o Pets within relationships. In “La Tristesse Des Herissons”, Adeline is hysterical about her pet hedgehog, which a psychologist tells her is depressed. At the same time, she uses this hysteria to put Josh, her boyfriend, through hell. Similarly, Maddie is hysterical about her pet tortoise in “Sharing the Hostage.” But that tortoise becomes the bond that enables two relationship skeptics (JMA… love that phrase) to stay together.

o Crazy fathers. In “Hue and Cry”, the encephalopathic and dying Bill Surcam makes a grand gesture of forgiveness that creates difficulties for his daughter. Then, the declining Bill cannot sustain the effects of his benevolence. In contrast, the crazy father in “The Rod of Asclepius” cannot forgive a terrible tragedy and involves his young daughter in acts of revenge. This time, the father can’t manage the cumulative stress of his dreadful actions.

o The lingering effects of love. In “Strings”, Cynthia, a young and conventional rabbi, cannot say no to Jacques, who is her ex. Then, her acquiescence to a mad project by Jacques leads to a debacle that both identifies and snaps Jacques’s allure. Meanwhile, in “Limmerance”, the accomplished Jesse, once a teenage nerd with a crush on the precociously sexy Lena, calls on the forty-something Lena on behalf of her estranged father. Returning to normal is not easy.

o The perniciousness of the imagination. The imaginative Bryce, a goofy inventor, misrepresents the past to make a few bucks in “Einstein’s Beach House”. This misrepresentation then takes on an expensive and unstoppable life of its own. Similarly, Leslie and Hugh in the story “Paracosmos” are concerned that their daughter’s imaginary friendship is too real. Appel then explores the tendency toward equivalent friendships in adults and its all-too-real consequences.

Appel is an elegant yet simple stylist. His work is quietly engaging, humorous, profound, and insightful. Highly recommended.
Jacob Appel’s new set of short stories is uniformly interesting, quirky and well-written. The question is—are they stories or are they tales? Tales (as in Kafka or Isak Dinesen/Karen Blixen) are the short counterpart of romances (as in The Scarlet Letter or Moby Dick); they are thought pieces in which the setting is somewhat stylized and the ideas are more important than the characters. Appel’s tales make use of such devices as genre shape-shifting and magic realism. For example, the last piece in the collection, “Paracosmos,” concerns a little girl and her imaginary friend. The girl is too old to have such a friend and her parents are worried. Suddenly, a man appears at the door and tells the mother that he is the father of the imaginary little girl (though he claims she exists). The mother has a month-long affair with the imaginary little girl’s father. Suddenly she no longer sees him. When her husband comments on the personality of the imaginary little girl’s mother, his wife fears that he has had an affair with this woman. The (real) couple divorce and the mother buys her daughter a macaw, a bird reminiscent of the imaginary bird possessed by the girl’s imaginary friend.

In some stories/tales there are elements of the gothic and of horror. In “The Rod of Asclepius” a man dresses up like a doctor and takes his daughter to hospitals. His wife has died as a result of medical malpractice and he is taking his revenge for her death by murdering (in medical fashion) a series of individuals close to medical personnel. After seeing his private actions impede his opportunity to build a new, transparent relationship, he ends by asking his daughter to inject him with salt water. The daughter knows that the syringe contains more than salt water and that he is asking her to murder him, thus keeping him from killing others and making her, in effect, a saver of lives.

A number of the stories contain comic elements. Common threads include a Manhattan or near-Manhattan setting and Jewish protagonists. As a physician, attorney and bioethicist Appel knows all of the worlds which constitute the ethos and subject of his stories. He is a very clever writer who combines a very active imagination with technical knowledge of his subjects. Readers who enjoy quirky and fresh narratives will enjoy this new collection. With the possible exception of “Strings,” a story about a female rabbi who is asked to make available her synagogue for a musical performance involving hundreds of cellos, all of the stories are successful and memorable.