by Gay Degani
Lulu Publishing
ISBN:978-0557222100
Review by: Rob Walter
Review Posted: 11/3/2010
Pomegranate Stories is Gay Degani’s newest collection of eight short stories for conversation. Published by Lulu Press it includes the following stories:
Dani-Girls Guide to Getting Everything Right
Hawaiian Hairdo
Rim Shot
Listing Lisa
Chair Girl
Pomegranate
Spring Melt
Monsoon
The stories in this collection all feature the mother-daughter relationship at the core of the story. These relationships range from how to survive in a dysfunctional family to what is or should be important in life. Without giving away the stories, Pomegranate and Monsoon were two that really caught my attention and forced me to spend time with.
Pomegranate was really disturbing as it explores the mother-daughter connection and how that can sustain you over distances and through difficult times. The circumstances and emotions drawn out by the story hit so close to my life and served as a cautionary tale.
Monsoon rang a reality bell to reinforce what is important in one’s life vice what we let distract us. It took me awhile to put the book down after I finished reading.
Ms. Degani is a good story teller and quite talented with drawing the reader into the story and getting them to empathize with the characters in the story. The emotions generated are quite real and power the reader into the story. The stories serve to get the reader to examine their own lives in a different light.
This isn’t my normal area of enjoyable reading, but I was quite surprised to find that I liked the collection of stories.
Overall, I recommend this collection.
