#33. Famous Fathers And Other Stories.  Short Fiction Collection.  Pia Z. Ehrhardt.  4 stars.

this is the best short fiction collection that i have read in a long time.  it almost felt like i wasn’t reading it.  the stories just kind of washed over me and infected me with their bittersweet taste.  all the stories were told from the perspective of interesting women, and all the stories, sans the title piece, dealt with infidelity (if you read this blog you know i’m having a lot of thoughts about that these days). 

the funny thing about Ehrhardt’s take on infidelity, or at least, what i got from it after finishing, is that life just tramples through.  people make these choices and do these things, and often infidelity is in the past or in the future for you and you already know it or you’re going to one day.  we are all affected by it, we are influenced by it, yet it does not rule our lives.  it’s just this fact in a series of facts, both good and bad in life. 

i walked away from Famous Fathers feeling like life is very very big and you can have no idea what is going to happen, nor should you, because then what would be the point.  having gone through infidelity in my life i have to say that i’m not a fan.  i’m not in it enough or far enough away from it to be able to be like the women in Famous Fathers, the women who are either relishing it, or just over it.  not to say that these women are all happy, the stories were incredibly bittersweet – and some were out and out sad – but the overall feeling was one of life washing over you as you read her strories – much like her book washed over me. 

there were some beautiful passages and gorgeous language, but in general i suppose that the stories were so well crafted and edited that they just seemlessly happened and there wasn’t much time to sit back and be fascinated with this passage or that, because you were already onto the next thing.  much like there wasn’t much time to be too concerned about the infidelity, because you were already onto the next thing. 

i hope that Ehrhardt’s book is more non-fiction than fiction, because i know in my life i’d really like to be “onto the next thing”.