Featured books

Featured Websites

.: Reader Views Kids

Provides book reviews, by kids, for kids

.: Inside Scoop Live

Provides live author interviews for podcast

.: Authors Access

Provides interviews with experts in the publishing industry

.: Midwest Book Review

Provides post-publication reviews

.: Reader Views

Provides book reviews and author publicity

.: LR Communication Design

Provides professional website design and development

.: Blogging Authors

Provides a place where writers and readers meet

.: Review The Book

Provides 5 books reviews on 10 different sites

.: Best Sellers World

Provides book reviews and author features

.: Feathered Quill Book Reviews

Provides book reviews and author features

reviews

Screwing The Pooch

J.B. Bergstad
Woodside Publishing (2009)
ISBN 9780615284064
Reviewed by Enid Grabiner for RebeccasReads (11/27)

I found this book of seven short stories to be a compilation of little literary gems, each varied in plot but all offering well developed character studies of people who made life changing errors in judgment without considering the consequences. These stories examine these ill-fated choices, sometimes with the events leading up to them and sometimes the results.  The author skillfully places us within the mind of the characters, while quite vividly building their back stories and situating us in their worlds.  Hence the title, “Screwing The Pooch,” which is a euphemism for making a choice resulting in catastrophic consequence.

At first glance, the cartoonish cover art and large, easy to read typeset might suggest to the average bookstore browser that he is choosing a lighthearted, comical collection of short stories.  The implication is wrong!!  These stories show the gritty side of life.  Recurrent themes of bad decision-making, alcoholism, abandonment, transience, revenge and redemption unite these stories. 

In “Milton’s Pickle” we find a seven-year-old boy bullied without remorse.  With no support from his mother, he takes control of the situation through his wit.  The horror of the outcome actually has the reader cheering for the moment but leaves the reader wondering what the ultimate effect will be on Milton.

 In the “Puppy Murders” and “Dear Daniel,” we are exposed to the psychological consequence of past acts.  Life lessons are learned as the adult narrators recall and regret their actions as youngsters. In “Puppy Murders,” a young boy, new to town, tries to fit in and impress the other kids with what he thinks are harmless lies. He discovers his fabrications and bravado place him in the uncomfortable position where he must “Put up or shut up.”  It is the putting up that haunts him into adulthood.  In “Dear Daniel” a father writes a letter to his grown son confessing to involvement in teenage pranks, drinking and driving and the murderous outcome.

I think that my favorite story is “Rot Like Me.”  Again a boy is transplanted to a new town, but this time we have little sympathy for him as he is a teenage rapist and murderer.  He seeks out his next conquest, not realizing he is becoming part of a supernatural revenge pact.  Unlike the other stories, this has all the elements of “Twilight Zone,” eerie and gruesome with vividly descriptive scenes that would make anyone cringe.

Loneliness and isolation pervade in many of the stories but are most prevalent in “BearClaw at the Coffeecaker,” “The Brass Rail,” and “Hank Starker, SA.” These stories are of adults who seem to have lost everything once meaningful in their lives and try to reclaim their former happiness, not always with success.

These thought provoking stories all have characters searching for new beginnings under adverse circumstances.  They universally find themselves in the position of taking responsibility for their actions, making this collection an interesting choice for discussion for a book group. 


.: Blog
.: FTC Disclosure