Review: The Book That Has You Wondering, "What Would I Do?"
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 11 7, 2012
Fifty/Fifty and Other Stories by Matthew W. McFarland is a collection of 11 short stories. The plot of each of these ranges from a very short story of a man's love for his trumpet, a man's final thoughts as he plummets to Earth and a policeman trying to convince someone not to jump and everything in between.The stories themselves range from only around 3 pages to 15 or so. Each one is worth reading, no matter how short. I was pleasantly surprised by this short book. The descriptive writing is fantastic and, as most of the stories can be a little ambiguous, it's the description that carries them. Even the characters themselves are ambiguous, with only 3 or so characters given names and most not even given a specific gender- though I would guess that most of the characters are male.The tie-in that connects all the stories would be their tone. With a few exceptions, most of them deal with quite dark or disturbing topics. Not dark enough to be horror, but certainly not light-hearted. A few of them will make you laugh and a few will make your blood run cold.A short read I would definitely recommend. Fantastic writing and realistic characters, with a very thought-provoking look into the human mind and the way we deal with different situations.Disclaimer: This book was given to me by the author. This is not a sponsored review. All opinions are 100% my own.