Review: Top of the Line
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 28, 2012
Good short stories are some of the best reads there are, and Sub-Prime is an excellent example. Calin sets the mood and scene in such desperation and bleakness that you wonder how you'll get through it, until a momentary charity from a young foreign woman toward an out-of-work husband and father desperate to feed his family sets a new tenor. Being the writer she is, Calin masterfully holds onto both reins that guide the story, the reader never being allowed to forget the brutality of life for these people, while at the same time nurturing the spark of kindness and respect that arises and lifts them momentarily beyond the endless muck of life. A nameless woman and a man called Mike are two characters you won't soon forget, the mark of a truly fine short story.