Movement is the key to this collection. The settings for the stories in Aquarium range from metropolis to hamlet, from a Florida retirement community to a northern Ontario reserve on the brink of freeze-up. The people in Aquarium are as varied as its locales; the characters are landlords, actors, drinkers, painters, teachers, doctors, steelworkers, fishermen, students, shopkeepers, weathermen, clerks and security guards. Couples are a recurrent theme: the dreams and devices by which lovers join or drift apart.
|
Exceptionally skilled writer
Mike Barnes is an exceptionally skilled writer at the start of his career. This book is a carefully and lovingly crafted collection of quirky yet touching stories, with the ring of true feeling. I am looking forward to his future offerings.
[Monday, December 03, 2001]
|
