Review: "What Sparks Your Imagination?"
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 02 7, 2014
Just too many of us fall into boring routines which may never change for years.  Riding a train or a bus the same route every day, taking the same scheduled lunch break, travelling home, dinner, evening to watch TV, then bed.  And the routine goes on and on like a merry-go-round for the next day, week, month....  How can one change that routine and have something remarkable happen?  Intrigued with a woman passenger on the train, Jack mentally gives her a name, Florence, because of her dark hair, complexion, and eyes remind him of the visit he made to the beautiful city by the same name. Watching her brings back all the beautiful scenes of the European trip he took when younger. In his mind, he is building a connection with her, and soon maybe he has.  They exit the train at the same stop, walk the same path, in the same direction, without either one speaking a word.  After walking several blocks, she suddenly disappears.  This story is a rather interesting study of a man's mind, but I found the extremely long sentence structure distracting and the flamboyant, less common word usage also distracting, i.e. pastoral, quasi-attentive, sumptuously, bucolic, fetishizing, vestiges, individuation.  I'm an avid reader, but to the occasional reader, this could cause reader disinterest.  However, after hanging in to the very end, I have to say I did smile and laugh out loud at the ending.  So, hopefully readers will give this a shot ... it might just stimulate one's mind!