Thursday, October 20, 2011

Thrown Out: Stories from Exeter by Jennie Coughlin





Travel to Exeter, Massachusetts, where old grudges, buried secrets and lifetime regrets haunt the residents of this small town — and sometimes trip up unwary newcomers. (Synopsis from Goodreads)










The book, Thrown Out: Stories from Exeter, was a delightful collection of four short stories.  All of the tales took place in the college town of Exeter. I really enjoyed each of the stories, which doesn’t often happen in a collection of works.

I have often been disappointed by short stories because they lack substance. These tales were well developed and the writer had strong command of them from beginning to end. Coughlin delivered stories that quickly immersed me into the tale. The characters had depth and some of them crossed over into different stories. The storylines were compelling and spanned over 40 years. They touched on tough subjects such as homophobia, town secrets, spousal abuse and fear of commitment.

My favorite story was “Thrown Out”. This story dealt with homophobia and the ugly truth behind it.  Chris is a young man who knows firsthand the pain this hatred can inflict.  I was touched by his story. Coughlin brings into perspective what it is like to be different in a small town.

I thoroughly enjoyed Thrown Out, and was sad to see it end. The book was a mere eighty-eight pages long, but worth the read. I will be looking for more of Jennie Coughlin’s work in the future.

I want to thank the author for providing an ARC , in exchange for my unbiased review.

I gave this book 4 coffee cups out of 5. 








Buy here: B&N or here: Amazon
Author's website: Jennie Coughlin

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5 Comments:

At October 20, 2011 at 1:16 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

I loved the stories in this book and can't wait to read the next book in this series.

 
At October 21, 2011 at 5:56 AM , Blogger Elizabeth said...

Great review and I'm going to pick this up. BTW I'm a book cover nut and I was intrigued by the "line" that crosses just above the authors name... Good way to convey a message in a photograph.

 
At October 21, 2011 at 11:31 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks for the cover comment, Elizabeth! The line is actually a power line - the stock photo was too perfect not to use for this because it had exactly the feel I wanted, but I was stuck with that in there unless I wanted to really manipulate the underlying photo before adding the filters for the painting effects. So then I ended up having to design the text around it. Fortunately, I was able to shoot my own art on a subsequent trip to Mass. for future covers. :)

Hope you enjoy your trip to Exeter!

Jennie

 
At October 21, 2011 at 1:43 PM , Blogger Unknown said...

Thanks for the review. Sounds like a great book. Especially loved the cover. I am a new GFC follower and would love a visit/follow on my blog when you have a moment. Thanks. Donna

http://mylife-in-stories.blogspot.com

 
At October 22, 2011 at 3:47 AM , Blogger Julia said...

Checking out this book from your review, sounds interesting.
Julia
@tinkertoldmeto

 

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