Title: Pallbearing : stories /
Authors: Melgaard, Michael, 1981-
Year: 2020
Subjects: Small cities Fiction.; Death Fiction; Gambling Fiction; Divorce Fiction
Abstract: "The stories in Michael Melgaard's poignant debut collection offer candid snapshots of life in a small town, where the struggle to make ends meet forces people to make desperate choices. In "Little to Lose," a son confronts his mother over the crushing prison of debt created by her gambling addiction. The aging divorcee in "Coming and Going" spends her days in paranoid pursuit of evidence to incriminate her neighbours in the derelict trailer park where she lives. And in "Clarence and Rose," lifelong friends find love after their respective partners die, and then face loss all over again. With deceptively spare prose that carries outsized emotional weight and pathos, Melgaard brings his characters to life in sharp-edged portraits and all-too-human dilemmas, creating engaging stories that resonate with honesty and depth, and linger in the imagination."--
Contents: Pallbearing -- Fun Centre -- A Pregnancy -- Rob and Jane -- Coming and Going -- Little to Lose -- Harold -- Auction -- Low Risk -- "We Can All Be Happy" -- How Nice it Would Be -- Fernando's -- Drive -- The Money -- When Things Wear Away Other Things -- What She'd Remember -- Unpacking -- Stewart and Rose.