Recent Reads: In the Springtime Everything is New All Over Again by Esmerelda Jones

Source: From the author in exchange for an honest review. This in no way alters my opinion or review.

In the Springtime Everything is New All Over Again: A Dark Humor Short Story by Esmerelda Q. Jones
Publisher:  CreateSpace Publishing
Publication Date:  June 13, 2016

 

Format:  Ebook

Rating:


 



Goodreads Synopsis: 

Pathos! Characters! Metafiction!

Poor Carl just has no luck! And neither does Edwina or little Oscar, but that's okay, because the Tuesday Book Club ladies just love it when bad things happen to hapless Carl, because it makes them feel better about their own lives.

Will Carl get his life together? Will Edwina find purpose in life? Will little Oscar get the special shoes he needs? FIND OUT INSIDE.

This short story contains one bad word and two questionable ones, depending on your lexical tolerance. 

Review: 
This was a very strange short story.  I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review, and I wasn't really sure what I was getting myself into. It seemed interesting and imaginative enough - is is described as 'dark humor', I can get behind some of that. Sadly this one was not for me. 

The book is written as a writer thinking about the story they will tell about Carl - so you don't really get a character but the idea of  a character that the 'author' is going to write about and about all the bad things that will/could happen to him. I read the story waiting for this to stop and get to the tale itself - and that was my mistake, this thought-process IS the tale. I think this could have been fun but it was not, I didn't really feel like it was funny and I was not finding the humor in another the author was choosing for the Carl character.

That all being said, it was a very imaginative concept and something that I have never read before - I think that there are many people that will really enjoy this story and I think that if you are a writer then this stream of consciousness about creating a character might even be entertaining for you. I think that if you are into the weird for the sake of being weird, again this might be for you. 

Some positives, the book is a short story, so it was a quick and easy read and you don't really need to get emotionally invested in any characters - sometime that is a win too. Overall this book just was not for me. I think that others might enjoy its creativity though.