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Publisher:
Little Brown & Company |
Release
Date: March, 2004 |
ISBN:
0316734993 |
Awards:
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Format
Reviewed: Hardcover |
Buy
it at Amazon |
Read
an Excerpt |
Genre:
Fiction |
Reviewed:
2004 |
Reviewer:
Janine Peterson |
Reviewer
Notes: Some profanity and sex |
Copyright
MyShelf.com |
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Fidelity:
Stories
By Michael Redhill
Love
and trust are not enough. Love can hurt, and trust can be weak.
That's the message of this powerful, beautiful collection of short
stories, Fidelity: Stories by Michael Redhill.
One
story focuses on a young mother who finds herself raising a clearly
gifted son. Her partner, a man whom she never married, is undaunted
by the boy, but the mother can't stop trying to find some failing
in her son. She tells herself she is seeking failure in her son
for his sake, and she thinks she succeeds. But is that really success?
Does love seek to correct failure, or should it exist unconditionally?
Another
story begins with the delivery of a package for a couple's teenage
daughter. The mother opens it to find a videotape of the daughter
having sex with two boys and apparently enjoying it. The father,
furious, wants to press charges. However, the girl is over the age
of consent, and the boys are not. Because of this, their daughter
would be identified in the papers. Additionally, she would have
to give consent for any criminal suit and cooperate with authorities.
What is the best thing for this family to do?
Redhill
presents story after story of difficult choices, human failings,
and the aching beauty of human emotion. Some stories are more difficult
to read than others, but all depict some facet of love and trust.
All are intense, and some are sad, even overwhelming. I could never
read more than one in a sitting. The occasional curse words are
never gratuitous, the sex is only as graphic as the plot dictates,
and it is never intended to be sensational.
Love
and trust are good things, as the book seems to acknowledge. But
what really matters are the decisions made under the influence of
love or trust.
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