Review: Portraits of Broken Families
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 08 12, 2011
These are not so much stories as portraits of three different families.  I first read them months ago, and I just reread them to write the review.  Although I couldn't remember the details of the stories themselves, I remembered the emotional impact that the stories had on me.  The portraits are beautifully written even though the subject matter is difficult.  The stories all deal with the after effects of emotional or physical child abuse.A Conflict of Necessity - A young man (grown and out of the house) confronts his emotionally distant father.Bennie and Jiggles - A 10 year-old boy's only memories of his father involve being beaten with a shoe.Monkey Dynamo - A prankster claims his pranks are caused by waiting at curbside every day for a father that never showed up.  [This one is a little weird, but lighter than the others].These are dark places to visit, but it's worth the trip.  I feel I have a slightly better understanding of a world that, fortunately, I have never lived in.