Small Stories: A Perfectly Absurd Novel by Rob Roy O’Keefe


Small Stories: A Perfectly Absurd Novel by Rob Roy O’Keefe
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Contemporary, Satire, Fiction
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

One town is just like another.

Except when it’s the focus of a wild experiment gone off the rails.

Duncan and Maya Small have just moved to an out-of-the-way town full of odd characters, quirky customs, and a power-obsessed local official who believes he should be declared emperor. Duncan is sharp enough to know something needs to change, and delusional enough to believe he’s the one to make it happen. The only thing standing in his way are feral ponies, radical seniors, common sense, and Duncan’s inability to do anything without a list. Oh, and an entire town that won’t take him seriously.

Small Stories: A Perfectly Absurd Novel, is a tale of power, bake sales, manipulation, the Welcome Wagon, deception, and yes, diabolical forces at work in the shadows, although the Smalls soon discover nothing is as it seems. One thing is certain – there’s something funny going on here.

Everything has a rational explanation, right?

My favorite scenes were the ones that dug into the unexpected results of small town politics. Sometimes conflicts with the lowest and pettiest stakes can be the most interesting because of how personally invested people can be in making sure that they receive recognition for their work or that someone they dislike is not chosen for a particular position or award. The author did an excellent job of portraying how frustrating and unintentionally hilarious these moments can be, especially to outsiders who are not yet aware of how seriously some folks take these matters.

I had trouble following the plot due to how often it veered off track to explain all sorts of random bits of information that were loosely related to what the characters were currently doing. This is something I’m saying as someone who generally enjoys these sorts of rabbit trails in stories. They can be a great deal of fun to read, but they happened too often here for this reader’s tastes.

The dialogue was funny and well written. All of the characters had natural speaking voices, and I could easily imagine their conversations happening in real life. This was true even for the zany ones that talked about things like how to keep pufferfish out of their community even though no pufferfish had yet been found there. People do sometimes talk about silly things like this, and the way they spoke in this book rang true to me.

Small Stories: A Perfectly Absurd Novel made me chuckle.

Movie Review: Howard Original

Movie Review: Howard Original

Director: Natalie Rodriguez

Writer: Kevin Michaels and Natalie Rodriguez

Stars: Kevin Michaels, Natasha Galano, Katt Balsan, Jasmine Richards, Ivon Millian, Alessandra Mañon, and Iliyana Apostolova.

Due to recent tragic events in his life – particularly with MULTIPLE failed relationships – a screenwriter named HOWARD begins to question his life and the meaning of it. He escapes to a cabin, in hopes to find closure from both his writer’s block and hysterical, yet painful past. Only, HOWARD finds himself in a state of reality and an altered universe when he finds an abandoned cat named BLUE while reflecting on his personal and work relationships.

Rated: 3 Stars

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He’s not a good guy, but he is an interesting one.

Howard was an argumentative, crass, and deeply prejudiced character whose profound lack of self-awareness made me shake my head. He was the last person I’d ever want to spend time with in real life, and yet I found myself fascinated by his repeated refusals to learn from his mistakes or listen to the feedback he was given about his abhorrent behavior from many of the women who crossed his path.

Other films on this topic would generally shown a small crack in the main character’s persona early on as evidence that he knew what he was doing was wrong and that he was at least theoretically capable of changing. The fact that this one gave the audience no hints about him learning the error of his ways or even admitting he had major issues relating to other human beings only made me more curious to see how such a belligerent and stubborn character would react to all of the plot twists that were being thrown his way.

I was often confused by the flashbacks in the storyline. While some of them were necessary in order to understand the deeper meanings of the plot, they happened so regularly that I struggled to keep the timeline in order in my head. Once or twice I paused this film in order to write down how I thought everything fit together and then checked it later to see if I was correct. It would have been helpful if more of the most important scenes had been shown in the order they actually occurred. There were times when I was totally wrong about how they should have fit together, and that only puzzled me more.

Blending the satirical and dreamlike elements of the plot together was a good choice. This was especially true during the portions of it near the end that would have been easy to take literally if they’d been shot in a more straightforward manner. I appreciated having these reminders to dig more deeply into what was happening and think critically about what I was watching. They did a good job of tying up some loose ends for me.

Howard Original kept me on my toes. I’d recommend it to anyone who is in the mood for something genre bending and thought provoking.

Into the Void by Emma Stein

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Into the Void by Emma Stein
Publisher: Tirgearr Publishing
Genre: Historical, Satire
Length: Full Length (215 pgs)
Rating: 5 stars
Review by Rose

The country of Anglina is teeming with social upheaval, and its officials have found an unlikely national hero in a philosopher and social activist named Horace. The Anglinian government has appointed the effeminate, irreverent, and stubborn scholar to undertake a journey around the world to learn the secret of other countries’ success. Unfortunately for Horace, most of the societies he visits turn out to be drastically different from what he expected, and he repeatedly sends scathing but witty reports about his travels and the people he encounters. At the end of his journey, Horace encounters a series of communes whose inhabitants welcome him into their ranks and open his eyes to more a liberal and egalitarian way of life.

He will recommend you the best way to find answers to this is giving a tough competition to cheapest price for viagra browse around for more especially in the UK. A medical practitioner will have a better sex life — and it’s related to human reproductive function. levitra vardenafil 20mg Some of them are mellow in nature while some are exceptionally buy brand viagra extraordinary in nature. You can get numerous buy cialis from india medicines, for example, dermatitis medications; psoriasis medicines back torment medications, Depression Treatment and numerous more. Into the Void is a very interesting book—consisting of letters from Horace to Addie detailing Horace’s visits to the different areas around Anglina to see if there is anything he can learn that will help clear away the rot that is present in their own land.

Each of his letters can be seen as satirical commentary on our own ways of living. In this it reminds me very much of Gulliver’s Travels. Where Swift examined governments, Stein puts human relationships and ways of living under the microscope.

The letters are interesting in themselves and, even though I’m not normally one to re-read books, I think I will make an exception here. I am interested in rereading several of the letters to dig a little deeper into the meaning behind it.

In addition to the foibles of the human condition that Stein provides, the letters also give us insight into Horace and his relationship with Addie that was quite interesting to discover.

Good job, Ms. Stein. A masterful achievement!