TAUVERNIER STREET, a collection of short portraits of a place and time

TAUVERNIER STREET: Stories
JAY ATKINSON
Livingston Press
$9.00 trade paper, available now

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: In Jay Atkinson's riveting new story collection, TAUVERNIER STREET, the writer that Men's Health magazine called "the bard of New England toughness" uses a variety of narrative voices, characters and styles to express a single, central truth: you are where you came from. In these stories, some written in "Technicolor" and others in "black and white," a young boy learns to cherish the solid, unremarkable presence of his own father when he gets to know the charismatic dad next door; an ex-Marine finds the strength to deal with his wayward young bride in the pages of an ancient book; and a young gangbanger with a keen sense of history seeks protection from a tough hombre named Jesus.

I RECEIVED A REVIEW COPY OF THIS COLLECTION FROM THE PUBLISHER. THANK YOU.

My Review: The collection by a writer who says: "...I realized that my old haunts were the starting point for nearly all my characters. It was a neighborhood of steep hills, rickety houses, and long lazy afternoons spent waiting for my father to pull into the driveway," had better deliver on the Sense of Place in every single story. Author Atkinson almost does. I'll go into details as we come to each story, à la the Bryce Method.

The Art of War

Dancing the Presidents

The God of This World

The Tigers in Argentina

God's Work

The Landscapes of Dr. Aboud

The Tex Cameron Show

Sages

Two Mississippi's

Latin Kings

Fear of Earnshaw

The Philosophy Shop

The Messenger

Radio Call

Pinholes

Jailbird

The Thorndikes of Tauvernier Street