Welcome to Normal (Nick Earls, Vintage)

Welcome to Normal is the title of the opening story in a new collection of short stories by Nick Earls. Two men are on a business trip in Normal, Illinois, but the normal in the title could easily refer to the routine and the ordinary in all eight stories in this collection. Two men drink coffee in a café; a man travels with his son to a place of his youth; two couples are thrown together on a vacation; a man watches his son play soccer while trying not to think about what he has just done: these are life’s ordinary moments, yet the stories in this collection are rarely ordinary. Earls writes with deftness and subtlety, each story drawing out the hearts of his characters. It’s not so much what happens to them but the unspoken things—the thoughts not given voice—that shape these tales. Eight stories might appear too few for a collection, yet the scope, versatility and humour in Earls’ writing is displayed beautifully in these diverse and often lengthy tales. Welcome to Normal will appeal to Earls’ fans and is highly recommended to anyone with an interest in reading or writing short stories.

Deborah Crabtree is a writer and bookseller from Melbourne

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Category: Reviews