All rights reserved. Greenside is good with those things that make short stories distinct, brevity being only a precondition. Whether it's a middle-aged man with women problems or an old woman struggling through endless nursing home nights, Greenside draws lead characters in swift strokes, filling them in with dialogue, internal monologue and telling observations. He writes with humor and empathy, and doesn't try to resolve the unresolvable. Stories like his possess the power to help us understand our humanity.
Novels require more time than short stories.
They need to. A good novel doesn't just sketch an individual. It paints a world. Its central characters aren't Hindu but Eastern Orthodox, when they aren't Marxist. The country's timeless beauty is soiled by World Bank-financed catastrophes.