Abruptions: 3 Minute Stories to Awaken the Mind

Fiction & Literature, Literary
Cover of the book Abruptions: 3 Minute Stories to Awaken the Mind by Jack Matthews, Personville Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Jack Matthews ISBN: 9781370476015
Publisher: Personville Press Publication: October 7, 2017
Imprint: Smashwords Edition Language: English
Author: Jack Matthews
ISBN: 9781370476015
Publisher: Personville Press
Publication: October 7, 2017
Imprint: Smashwords Edition
Language: English

"Matthews stories are like friends from small towns: They are honest, warm, occasionally lyrical and as strange and idiosyncratic as the rest of us."
Arthur Sabatini (Philadelphia Inquirer)

During the last decade of his life, author Jack Matthews wrote a series of 1-2 page prose pieces (which he dubbed "Abruptions" or "very short stories that end abruptly").

Matthews had already published over 20 books of fiction with an astonishing variety of characters and plots. This last volume hints at a lot of characters and plots without trying to resolve them. Each abruption -- which rarely takes more than 5 minutes to read -- shed light on something unexpected, whether it be a character's view on life or the reader's notions of how the world ought to work.

Many episodes read like contemporary fables or sketches of quirky people from small midwest towns. Two older women have a long-running feud about what flowers should go on the fence between their houses. An actor makes a living out of playing the bad Nazi in movies. An owner of a movie studio in the 1930s throws out any audience member who misbehaves during a movie. An office worker is distracted by a pretty woman washing the outside windows.

Other stories sound like wild fairy tales. What if one superintelligent Siamese twin were conjoined with an idiot brother? What if a witch's curse caused every third word uttered by a person to go unsaid? What if a woman has terrifying dreams about a missing watch?

Some stories simply ponder the imponderable. Why do certain memories persist or reappear? Why do elderly people become set in their ways? Why do people become blind to certain things?

Matthews explains in the book's preface that abruptions "can reach down to dimensions of wonder and speculation that are commonly thought to be the proper domain of poetry." These stories are a fitting coda for Matthew's career as a storyteller. As deep and dark as these abruptions can become, they are told with simple language, flashes of humor and a sage's sense of wonder and irony.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

"Matthews stories are like friends from small towns: They are honest, warm, occasionally lyrical and as strange and idiosyncratic as the rest of us."
Arthur Sabatini (Philadelphia Inquirer)

During the last decade of his life, author Jack Matthews wrote a series of 1-2 page prose pieces (which he dubbed "Abruptions" or "very short stories that end abruptly").

Matthews had already published over 20 books of fiction with an astonishing variety of characters and plots. This last volume hints at a lot of characters and plots without trying to resolve them. Each abruption -- which rarely takes more than 5 minutes to read -- shed light on something unexpected, whether it be a character's view on life or the reader's notions of how the world ought to work.

Many episodes read like contemporary fables or sketches of quirky people from small midwest towns. Two older women have a long-running feud about what flowers should go on the fence between their houses. An actor makes a living out of playing the bad Nazi in movies. An owner of a movie studio in the 1930s throws out any audience member who misbehaves during a movie. An office worker is distracted by a pretty woman washing the outside windows.

Other stories sound like wild fairy tales. What if one superintelligent Siamese twin were conjoined with an idiot brother? What if a witch's curse caused every third word uttered by a person to go unsaid? What if a woman has terrifying dreams about a missing watch?

Some stories simply ponder the imponderable. Why do certain memories persist or reappear? Why do elderly people become set in their ways? Why do people become blind to certain things?

Matthews explains in the book's preface that abruptions "can reach down to dimensions of wonder and speculation that are commonly thought to be the proper domain of poetry." These stories are a fitting coda for Matthew's career as a storyteller. As deep and dark as these abruptions can become, they are told with simple language, flashes of humor and a sage's sense of wonder and irony.

More books from Literary

Cover of the book Turn of Mind by Jack Matthews
Cover of the book Sexual repression and its significance in Orwell's 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' and Huxley's 'Brave New World' by Jack Matthews
Cover of the book Le pari de la décroissance by Jack Matthews
Cover of the book Wolf in White Van by Jack Matthews
Cover of the book Oráculo manual y arte de prudencia by Jack Matthews
Cover of the book Bart Ridgeley: A Story of Northern Ohio by Jack Matthews
Cover of the book Un Adolescent by Jack Matthews
Cover of the book Jeder liest Drecksack / Everyone's Reading Bastard by Jack Matthews
Cover of the book Profiles of American Writers by Jack Matthews
Cover of the book Saving Pumpernickels: a City Kids Lullaby by Jack Matthews
Cover of the book The Red Caddy by Jack Matthews
Cover of the book Eighteenth-Century Manners of Reading by Jack Matthews
Cover of the book The End of Time by Jack Matthews
Cover of the book Parle-moi d'amour by Jack Matthews
Cover of the book Essayism by Jack Matthews
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy