All these stories were very entertaining, but “Sorry Blood” had me on the edge of my seat so to speak. I worried through most of the story about the old farmer with Alzheimer’s. When the old man was picked up by a stranger claiming to be his son, I was furious with the way he was being exploited. The slob who took advantage of the confused old man was so grotesque that I wanted him to get his due in the worst way. Others have compared Gautreaux to Flannery O'Conner and I can see the resemblance in characters who come from society's dark and ugly side. In spite of the inhumane way that the old man was taken advantage of, in the end I was beginning to feel sympathy for the stranger whose life was so pitiful and hopeless. Thank goodness the farmer's memory loss wasn't so severe that he eventually realized the predicament he was in and was able to escape. Along with the serious and often difficult situations developed in these stories was a subtle humorous way of looking at pieces of humanity. The eccentric young woman in “The Piano Tuner” was another favorite character of mine. It must have been a sight to see her pull the old piano out of the house on the hill with a tractor. Don't let the title fool you … this is not a how-to type of book. “Welding With Children” is the first story in this collection. The grandfather in this story, who cares for his grandchildren while his daughters are out “painting the town,” has his hands full. He soon realizes that he doesn't want to repeat the mistakes he probably made raising his daughters and tries to instill a sense of right and wrong in his grandchildren. He begins to look at life in a new way and begins to make some positive changes in his surroundings after hearing negative comments about his brood.
This was a perfect lunch hour book for two reasons. First, each short story in this collection takes about 45 minutes to read start-to-finish, so the logistics couldn't have been better. And second, these stories take place for the most part in southern Louisiana (though not New Orleans), and I enjoyed getting that far out of the office each day. Though each short story is self-contained and capable of standing on its own (no recurring characters), they all seem to complement each other. Each successive story seems like yet another glance out a different window in the same house--though each displays different features of the landscape, there is an overarching harmony that ties them all together.
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