More Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes (Large Print Edition) Book

I'm sitting here thinking to myself, that it's an absolute shame, that all too often, talented people let us down. There is no direct correlation between being a marvel at some sort of trade -- be it sports, music, or whatever -- and being an interesting and/or truly friendly, good person.

In fact, the chance of running into someone that has great talent, and those two qualities of being both interesting and a good person, is pretty damn rare. The all star baseball player who is fun, but can't make an unrehearsed, intelligent, interesting statement in an interview -- at least, not about anything other than the sport he or she plays. The award winning talk show host who is an absolute prick to everyone off the camera. The list goes on.

So this combination of someone that is very talented, that has touched you in some kind of special way through his or her area of expertise, that also has those aforementioned qualities, is extremely rare and special. Even more rare -- and, to be honest, something that most people don't get to experience -- is when you actually get to know such a person.

My fellow goodreaders, I have hit the jackpot. I've known Jessica Treat on here for probably a good eight months, and I've been able to tell for a while now that she is both an interesting and goodhearted person. I did not know, however, until I started this book, that I'd enjoy her stories so much - so much, in fact, that her book would end up being my favorite book of short stories.

Something Treat does better than any writer I've read, is desperation stories. Stories where you're immediately hit with the rapid-heart-beat sensation, that sweaty palms feeling, that manic mind racing, that yearning, frantic grasp for a way out. We've all had that feeling before, perhaps when you've been late for something important, or when you haven't been able to find something. Treat brought those feelings back to me in some of her stories. Because her characters were going through some crazy shit -- shit I've never (knock on wood) had to deal with myself -- she brought that feeling to me in extremes. That says a lot-- that an author can make you feel some identifiable emotion with more power than you had before.

The two stories that stand out in my mind as bringing out that feeling of grasping desperation, were Trail and Hans & His Daugter. Hans & His Daugter reminded me of my favorite Raymond Carver story, Bath, in that a parent is in an uncontrollable, unpredicable situation with a child. Can you imagine the feeling of not having your wife come back to you when you have a child to take care of? Not knowing whether something bad happened to her, while also knowing that the possibility exists that she chose to leave you for good and isn't coming back -- but also knowing that you have to stay calm and figure out what to do with your child while you wait (while obviosuly panicking on the inside) and try to think clearly. The story Hans & His Daughter takes that situation and feeling, and turns it into something questionable yet beautiful, all while remaining dark and mysterious, and with a wide open future under the umbrella of human nature. I'd get more specific, but I really don't want to give anything away. Hans and His Daughter is my new favorite short story.

Trail, another favorite, had that feeling of desperation to it, as did Little Bitches. In Little Bitches, it comes through a game of perceptual tossing and flipping, when, by the end of the story, you don't know which character is crazy, or whether you're just crazy yourself. I love gaining new perceptions like that. I greatly enjoyed the interplay of two different personalities in A Visit. I loved the story Dear Dr. Haskell, as well, which also involves a (possibly) crazy protagonist. It's a story that reads remarkably like something from Salinger.

Bah, I find myself wanting to write about most stories in the book: the comfort I gained from the images in the title story Meat Eaters and Plant Eaters, the dark creativity involved with Fruits of the Dead.

I'm having trouble deciding whether to give this four of five stars. I want to be as objective as possible, and I'm not sure how much my loving the book had to do with the fact that I think so highly of Jessica. Plus, I've never given a short story book five stars before... yet, I may be switching this to five stars. I'm going to let it soak in, first. Which feels damn good, by the way. Great book.