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DiDonovan
, August 31, 2015
(view all comments by DiDonovan)
The Fall of Icarus offers three interlinked short stories sharing the locale, flavor, and focus of Paris and tell of falls, flights, and endurance in the lives of three very different individuals. All this is done in a production well below a hundred pages: an amazing achievement, given that so much is imparted using so little space.
In 'The Elevator', Ianos becomes trapped in a shabby, tiny old French elevator and when the doors finally open, something magical changes his life and introduces him to a Paris of loss and possibility. How many times will he embark on that journey? A surreal saga captures reader interest.
'The Fall of Icarus' is also about flights: this one injecting the allegory of a mythical son who ignored direction and traveled too close to the sun into the life of one who chose to "…follow a middle way��"not too bright, not too foolish, and not too confident. I succumbed, and I did not excel in any way. Perhaps without realizing it, I followed this path as a means of real escape and not the imagining of escape by taking flight."
It, too, is replete with the possibilities introduced by the unexpected experience which defies preset notions and logic.
'The Girl' features a protagonist even more lost (she can't remember her own name, but she is immersed in recording the stories and words of others - to the point of lacking of her own life). Can an unexpected tale introduce her to new choices and experiences?
All three stories excel in a sense of wonder and feature delightful twists and contemplative scenarios all immersed in Parisian atmosphere and powerfully surreal moments. Readers with a special affinity for the short story format who want to see atmosphere and psychology works flavored with a tinge of the eerie will delight in these well-done literary pieces.
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