Truthtelling
Stories Fables Glimpses
by Lynne Sharon Schwartz
Find a Heroine
An author friend, Bibiana Krall and I are book lovers, and what do you suppose we chat and chew on together? Everything to do with creating and writing, of course. We delve and dive into how to capture the elusive soul of a story and share it. And yes, we will be discussing the heart of stories for years. Happily.
Here’s how Bibiana sets her story compass:
Find a Heroine!
Bibiana Krall, Author and INfluencer
Writers, find a heroine that will launch and sustain your story. Readers, find a heroine you will want to read about over and over.
I have a heroine for you, Author Lynn Sharon Schwartz. She writes about unlikely heroines and Ms. Schwartz is herself a living heroine.
I received a hardback, decked-edged review copy of “Truthtellling” by Lynne Sharon Schwartz, thanks to Delphinium Books and Meryl Moss Media Each story is a glimpse, sometimes quirky, funny or poignant, into an ordinary person’s daily life.
This elegant new collection includes Sharon’s most surprising and satisfying short works, demonstrating anew her sustained powers as a writer, through an astonishing 28 books and 40 years.
Aliz Kates Shulman, Author of Memoirs of an Ex-Prom Queen
JENA’S REVIEW
Truthtelling: Stories, Fables, Glimpses by Lynne Sharon Schwartz
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
What a collection of short stories! I feel like a character in a story in this book, “Castles in the Air”. An author, for years he was blessed with a “famously fertile imagination” until suddenly, “he had no ideas at all.” Like him, I am blessed with a wonderful book to review, but I am not sure I have the writing ability to convey to readers how much I enjoyed this book and how it made me feel. The stories of Truthtelling, subtitled “Stories, Fables, Glimpses” blend the realism of everyday situations with the experimentation of creative literary writing. Lynne Sharon Schwartz is a powerful and surprising writer.
The author writes with a straight-forward style, which allows her creative flourish of words and ideas to shine. Many stories begin with an ordinary, everyday occurrence that we all can relate to. But then the story veers off to highlight our foibles, moral dilemmas, desires and weaknesses. My favorite is “The Golden Rule”, which begins, “It started innocently enough. Could Amanda pick up a few groceries- it was raining so hard.” Sounds typical, right? Where will this lead to, you wonder? Most of the joy with these stories is in the journey.
“Near November” is very short, but what a poignant and searing look at 9/11. The shoes that are shown on the eye-catching cover may be from the story “Am I a Thief?”, which is ludicrous and likable.
A story that was published on Angionline in January, 2018 seems like it could have been written this year, 2020. “A Few Days Off” tells of a nameless woman who woke up one morning, decided to stay home from work and ended up remaining in bed for days.
Some of the stories are told in the first person and almost all are stories of a woman. Most of the stories are set in New York City, a place that is made for magic and the unexpected. Each story truly is a fable that will give the reader a glimpse into the private lives and thoughts of others and will awaken the quirks and misgivings we all have. Have you ever felt the urge to take something small from someone’s home as you are visiting? Read “An Impromptu Visit”.
Lynne Sharon Schwartz is a distinguished and acclaimed writer and is the author of twenty-three books. She has taught in many universities and writing programs. This collection of her stories showed me that a writer can be literary and stretch the boundaries of her thoughts, while still giving us a good read with some smiles and wry chuckles. I highly recommend this short story collection, one of my favorites.
Thanks to Meryl Moss Median and Delphinium Books for an advance hardback copy. This is my honest review.
About the Author
Lynne Sharon Schwartz is the author of twenty-three books that include the novels Disturbances in the Field Leaving Brooklyn a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award and Rough Strife a finalist for the National Book Award She has also published non-fiction short stories a memoir essays and translations Schwartz is the recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation the National Endowment for the Arts in fiction and translation and the New York State Foundation for the Arts She has taught widely in the United States and abroad and currently teaches at the Bennington College Writing Seminars and the Columbia University School of the Arts.
Thanks to Delphinium Books and Meryl Moss Media for a review copy.
About the Author
