In my quest to read everything I can get my hands on, I still haven’t read many short stories, or collections of short stories, so I haven’t got much to go on when it comes to rating this type of book.
However,
Einstein’s Beach House by Jacob M Appel had me hooked from the start of each dramatic tale. In about 30 pages, he is able to tell a story so detailed and poignant that it feels like you’ve read a novel!
I was quickly drawn into each of the eight highly imaginative, thought provoking, fictional stories. It was easy to feel some type of emotion towards his characters, whether I wanted them to succeed or fail, I was emotionally invested in each one of them.
A terminally ill father’s last ditch effort to instill values into his teen, are well intended, but she’s learning a completely different set of lessons. The kind of lessons that are hard to teach, you just have to live through them in order to learn anything.
A young couple adopts a hedgehog. One of them truly believes the hedgehog is depressed and in need of therapy, while the other finds his limit of what he will allow.
The boundaries of friendship are tested when an old flame asks for a favor, and rolls are reversed, when the nerdy boy is finally needed by the popular girl.
The title story, Einstein’s Beach House uses family folklore to create revenue for a struggling family.
These stories can easily replace watching some TV drama before bed. Each night, I was drawn into a new captivating story (or two) about normal, modern day people going through the common life struggles most people have to face in some form or another, but these struggles still effect quality of life.
Just because it’s a common or seemingly trivial problem, doesn’t mean it’s not a real problem.
The stories reminded me of the phrase; Always be nice because you don’t know your neighbor’s secret struggles.
Pool of Life. 