The depiction of their house and the neighborhood of Revolutionary Road is well drawn. Frank’s discontent over suburban life and working at a job he has never liked percolates throughout. April ponders who she really is and how she came to end up a suburban mother of two kids. When she suggests they should throw up everything and move to Paris, the Wheelers feel a bit of audacious hope that they will break out of their purgatorial lives. Friends and neighbors aren’t sure how to comprehend the Wheeler’s attempt to transcend the rat race and make something of their lives. The friends respond with disbelief and envy, except for a neighbor’s mentally ill son, who appears to understand too clearly.Unfortunately, before the Wheelers can finalize their plans and pack up their bags, their best laid plans unravel in a tragedy of massive proportions.

Novels and short stories that explore the dark side of suburban angst have always been a genre that has hit me hard. Raymond Carver, John Cheever, AM Homes, and John Updike are a few writers I admire who have written of these suburban surroundings. I used to joke that I always wanted to write the great American novel, but then I read “Rabbit Run” and realized Updike had already done it. I believe Yates may have topped Updike in this regard. Revolutionary Road is the darkest and most tragic novel I’ve ever read, but it also may be the best.

Note: I have seen the 2009 film Revolutionary Road, directed by Sam Mendes and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. From what I recall, the film is pretty faithful to the novel, though Yates is obviously able to put us into the minds of the characters more than was possible in the film. I’m very interested to re-watch the film now and see how it compares to the book.

Author Ben Fountain moves mountains with this novel. His prose is wickedly funny and brightly colored, while we also feel the pain of Billy and his peers as they watch the masses of civilians walking through the concourse. At one point, a Dallas Cowboys lineman asks if he could join them in battle, “just for a week.” When a soldier suggests that the football player could enlist, the NFL players in the locker laugh.

To complicate matters, though Billy has held a dying friend in his arms, he is still a naive kid in many ways. He’s a virgin. His sister keeps sending him texts, trying to convince him to consider going AWOL. He’s lost while talking business with the rich men, and realizes they are patronizing him. When Billy makes a surprising connection with a cheerleader, he starts dreaming about a romantic life – heaven – while knowing he is hours away from returning to hell. In essence, he is just a teenager trying to figure out his world.

At one point, the producer tells him, “Billy you’re a philosopher.” But the kid tries to deny it, replying, “Hell no, I’m just a grunt.” Heartbreaking.

There’s so much more packed into these 307 pages, but I don’t want to ruin your reading experience. All I can say is, take the walk with Billy Lynn and you’ll see America in a new light.

This foreshadows Dick’s eventual destruction, and while their party ends up leading to a duel the following morning, the real destruction happens much later in the book. The second section takes the reader back to when Dick and Nicole met, he a psychologist and she a patient, and divulges family secrets and the believed source of her mental illness. In the final section, we are projected forward to their dissolving marriage and infidelities. As Nicole has become stronger, she has grown independent. In turn, Dick battles career issues brought on by his drinking.

Before all that though, there is the movie starlet Rosemary Hoyt. She is surprisingly aggressive in courting the married Doctor Diver, and eventually gets under his skin, leading to this excellent line:

Dick walked beside her, feeling her unhappiness, and wanting to drink the rain that touched her cheek.

Overall, for the era this was written, there is plenty of soap opera style drama, including: incest, mental breakdowns, marital affairs, fights, arrests, and duels. Our book group all found it amusing how the Divers had two little children running around during all this mayhem, cared for by a nanny.

My Goodreads rating will probably end up being 3 out of 5 stars. With the movie version of The Great Gatsby coming out soon, re-reading that will have to be done soon.

“You fell down the rabbit hole, eh?”

Now, he was backstage at a channel that sold chatychkes, standing beside this rabbit-like creature. Unbelievable.

Hemingway describes this time in the twenties, with his first wife Hadley and their son, living cheaply in a room without a proper toilet. The room often grew so cold he saw his breath in the morning. Hemingway focused on his work during the day, writing in cafes, but he was aware of the sacrifices his wife was making for his work. Hemingway stated:

“I knew how severe I had been and how bad things had been. The one who is doing his work and getting satisfaction from it is not the one the poverty is hard on.”

About ten pages in, I realized I should have had my highlighter ready from the start. There’s solid writing advice and motivational quotes throughout the book, including one of his most famous thoughts on the craft of writing:

“All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence you know.”

The memoir is also remarkable for reading Hemingway’s thoughts on his mentors and friends during this period. He provides his perspective on Gertrude Stein’s mentorship and their relationship. He discusses seeing glimpses of James Joyce dining in a cafe with his family. There are quite a few chapters recounting Hemingway’s relationship with F. Scott Fitzgerald, and how Fitzgerald appeared to have quite a few medical issues (in addition to the stress of dealing with Zelda.) Hemingway appeared to be quite fond of Fitzgerald’s writing, and claims he remained loyal to his friend. At the same time, some of his stories cast Fitzgerald as having some strange issues, the most memorable being Fitzgerald’s concern after Zelda told him he lacked in the manhood department.

If you have read Hemingway and want to learn about his early years, I definitely recommend picking this book up and giving it a read. It’s worth buying so you can make your own notes.

Also – There is also a Hemingway documentary that I found to be interesting. Hemingway: Wrestling with Life was available on Hulu for free, at least the first part was. It was interesting to watch this in conjunction with this excellent memoir.

A few of the stories in this collection really connected with me. The first story, Adults Alone, is true suburban darkness. A couple with a faltering numbness in their marriage, send the kids to Florida for the weekend. They don’t have much to do together anymore, and they end up getting stoned, eating in bed, watching TV and eventually experiment with smoking crack. Stories that plunge into this darkness of the soul are something I’m fond of – Leviathan from Tobias Wolff is one of my all time favorites – and Homes does an excellent job here.

Esther in the Night is heartbreaking. A mother recounts her life taking care of her son who has been injured in a car accident, how this tragedy has changed her family’s life and made their situation a spectacle. This territory is every parents’ nightmare, and it’s wrenching to read as she reveals what this life is like and what the mother deems is her solution.

Slumber Party resonated the most with me, yet it would be awkward to say I “like” it. The symbolism is very well drawn out. A young girl and her slightly older friend, who is a boy, are getting into mischief – setting fires in the woods until their ankles are burned. When the boy sleeps over, they end up touching each other sexually, and the boy suggests going to stand in the backyard naked. As they stand in the backyard, two innocent naked children, two older boys who are burglarizing the neighbors walk through the backyard and stop. The scene is full of palpable tension, and the mark left resonates on a much larger scale in the girl’s life and in the reader’s eyes. Well done.

These are not feel good stories, but they are stories about the darkness often found in the soul. For readers who don’t pick up symbolism, they will just appear to be strange and in some cases, even degrading. For those readers that are able to uncover and absorb the symbolism, the best of these stories will haunt you.

The contributors to Chester County Fiction held a festive party at the General Warren Inn last night to mark the first anniversary of the launch of the anthology. At the gathering, the contributors donated a portion of the profits from the book to the IHM Family Literacy Center, which teaches English and life skills to families.

Attending the party were Sister Bernadette Mary Heister and Sister Jean Hennelly, the two sisters who started and operate the educational outreach facility, which is “committed to developing strong healthy family units and to breaking the cycle of illiteracy that exists within many families.”

After visiting the IHM Family Literacy Center over the summer, we asked the sisters for their wish list. Thanks to the successful sales of Chester County Fiction, we were able to fulfill their request. At the party, the contributors donated an iPad and nine copies each of the following books for children: The Little Penguin by AJ Wood, Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn, Ruby In Her Own Time by Jonathan Emmett and The Little Polar Bear by Hans de Beer.

For those who are hearing about Chester County Fiction for the first time, here’s a little background:

In December, 2010, I approached several local writers whose fiction I admired, and asked if they would like to contribute a short story to an anthology called Chester County Fiction. We collected the stories in late summer of 2011, spent two months editing and occasionally re-editing, while our photographer and book cover designer collaborated on cover ideas.

On October 2nd, 2011, Chester County Fiction was launched with a party at the legendary Baldwin’s Book Barn. Sales were brisk throughout the holiday season and the collaborators bonded at several local book signings. We were also fortunate to get press from Main Line Today, WCHE radio, and WHYY radio.

From the beginning, my hope was that we could contribute a portion of the proceeds to a local literacy charity and hold a party for the contributors. It was exciting to see the project through to such a worthwhile conclusion. Thanks so much to all the collaborators in the project, who are listed below!

Chester County Fiction contains short stories by Virginia Beards, Jim Breslin, Robb Cadigan, Wayne Anthony Conaway, Peter Cunniffe, Michael Dolan, Ronald D. Giles, Terry Heyman, Joan Hill, Nicole Valentine, Jacob Asher Michael, Eli Silberman and Christine Yurick. Our book cover photographer was David James. Book Cover design by Larry Geiger. PR provided by Jennifer Vanderslice.

Stewart O’Nan was the keynote speaker for the Conversations and Connections Conference in Philadelphia. Stewart has written many excellent books, including: Last Night at the Lobster, Emily Alone, Songs for the Missing, A Prayer for the Dying, Snow Angels.

Of all the O’Nan books I’ve read, Last Night at the Lobster is my favorite. It’s an excellent novella that takes place on the final snowy night of a Red Lobster restaurant that is being closed by corporate headquarters. We follow manager Manny as he struggles to keep the restaurant up to corporate standards. He is the only staff member that cares and by the end, we care also. Manny is an every man, and he is also a hero.

I brought a copy of Last Night at the Lobster with the hope of getting it signed. Stewart showed up an hour before his scheduled talk and just hung out in the lobby. It’s always a great feeling when an artist I admire turns out to be warm and friendly. My friend Laura and I were lucky enough to chat with him about writing, his schedule, even about his “beat-up” old car which became famous when mentioned in a magazine article about Stewart. He asked us what we were working on and listened intently and offering suggestions. He was laid back and engaged. We were chatting with Stewart for so long, I felt a sense of guilt but he didn’t mind at all. Oh, and her did sign my book too.

A short time later, Barrelhouse editor Tom McAllister introduced Stewart and summed up his work with one word – empathy. This was a succinct and true statement. During Stewart’s presentation, he read from his new work, The Odds, and he talked about the craft of writing. Here are two quotes I jotted down:

“Sales don’t make your book one word better.”

“The reader’s caring is an echo of yours.”

Stewart talked about the importance of keeping the ass in the chair. He said he writes 9-5 every day, and some days that only totals 300 words. When asked about writers block, he said just sit there. He also relayed a story about Joseph Conrad. Apparently Conrad for some time used a writing space in a friend’s barn and every day he would climb up in the loft for his writing time, but every day he dreaded going to the loft. And that’s true of writing – getting started each day is the hardest part.

Stewart also explained his belief that readers like to learn “privileged information” while reading stories. An example could be knowing what really happens in the back kitchen at a Red Lobster and relaying that in the work. Stewart believes this provides the reader with a ‘non-fiction” experience, they are having something revealed they wouldn’t normally know. He also believes the reader needs to see the story through the eyes of the character who cares the most. Stewart certainly has done that in his novels, and it’s this fact that takes us back to the key word – empathy. I was heartened to see that Stewart O’Nan is as likable as his characters.

On a side note, are you a member of the #amwriting community? Writers throughout the world use the #amwriting hashtag as a water cooler stop to discuss projects, network and simply cheer each other one. 

First, the Kindle e-book version is available at the “Anniversary Price of FREE until Sunday, April 29th. Click here.

On Goodreads, we’re giving away two paperback copies. If you are on Goodreads, you can click here to sign up a chance at a copy. If you love books, you want to be on Goodreads anyway!

Finally, paperback copies of “Elephant” can be purchased directly from Oermead Press for the week at $9.99 plus shipping and handling. This is a savings from the Amazon price and your copy can be personalized also if you would like! Click here to learn more.

Thank you so much!