Simple Pleasures by Kenna White | Lambda Literary
Home About Mission пщ Statement пщ A Brief History of LLF Board Staff Contact Us Newsletter Press Releases Foundation Updates From The Board Awards Awards Ceremony Overview of Awards 2013 Awards Guidelines 2013 Awards Submission Form Current Submissions Previous LLF Winners Emerging Writer Award Guidelines Mid-Career Prize Guidelines Pioneer Award Ceremony Gallery Writer’s Retreat About 2013 Application 2013 Faculty 2013 Writers Retreat Fellows Scholarship пщ Fund Writers in Schools About LGBT Writers in Schools Recent Visits Book Clubs LLF Online Book Club My Story Book Club Lambda Lit Book Club Volunteer General Volunteer Information Internships Write for Lambda Literary Support Us Literary Resources LGBT Book Groups пщ LGBT Bookstores LGBT Publishers Book Database Literary Links Editors, Agents, Publicists Literary Organizations Literary Magazines & Websites Residencies, Grants & Fellowships Call for Submissions
Lambda Literary Review Editorial Team Comments Policy How to Submit Books for Review How to Write for LLR Advertise With Us! Reviews Poetry Bio/Memoir General Fiction Speculative Romance Mystery Nonfiction Young Adult Drama Erotica Film Illustrated Anthology Interviews Features Poetry Spotlight Opinion LFF Book Club News Events Events Submit an Event Call For Submissons Call for Submissions Submit a Call For Submission
The story, пщ Simple Pleasures (Bella Books), starts out benignly enough, with avid softball пщ player Dale Kinsel participating in a charity game. As the account begins, we find that Dale is annoyed, even irate, over the presence of one Taren Dorsey, пщ who has joined the opposing team, but who couldn t play a decent game of softball if her life depended on it. Why Dale is so put out by Taren s presence пщ slowly begins to come to light as the story unfolds. Years before, there was a confrontation between Dale and Taren. Words were exchanged, and an unpleasant awkwardness surrounded by anger ensued. As a result Dale has kept her distance from the woman, in spite of the fact that Taren s sister пщ was Dale s partner, Sydney, who succumbed to cancer several years before the story opens.
Through пщ sheer force of will, Dale finishes the game, a benefit for cancer victims, and returns home to become enveloped by the well documented, devastating EF-5 tornado that hit Joplin, Missouri, and left a portion пщ of the town shattered пщ and flattened. As Dale emerges from the wreckage that was her home only moments пщ before, she finds her neighborhood has been decimated. She walks around in shock, meeting up with neighbors who have managed to survive the devastation, trying to take it all in and understand what has happened to their community. Slowly, Dale pulls herself together and starts пщ to go through the rubble, trying to salvage the pieces of her life with her now-deceased partner. As Dale soon discovers, there isn t much left for her to keep. The tornado пщ has taken or destroyed it all.
Dale s somewhat self-centered, although obviously caring, sister, tries to come to Dale s aid by offering her a place to stay in an already too small apartment. пщ However, Dale is driven back to her neighborhood to try to protect пщ her property from looters. Deciding a tent won t do, she ends up across town at Taren s house, asking if she can buy back a camping trailer that Sidney had insisted she and Dale give Taren when they no longer had use for it. Taren, to her credit, seems to want to help Dale and offers her the trailer. When Taren shows up on Dale s property later with other offers of help, Dale is stymied at her show of goodwill.
In direct opposition to Taren s reaction to Dale s troubles, Dale s new relationship with a woman named Janice quickly reveals her to be immature пщ and even more self-centered that Dale s sister, and one wonders how a down-to-earth person like Dale can tolerate this woman. Janice is obviously not the woman of Dale s dreams. As a matter of fact, her actions may result in Dale problems multiplying if she isn t strong enough to act.
As Dale tries to put her life together, she s confronted with difficulties in getting through the red tape in which the lives of victims of such tragedies become entangled. In addition, some of the death and destruction Dale has experienced leaves her with survivor guilt and difficult emotional challenges to overcome in the midst of her ensuing recovery efforts. All the while, Taren is thoughtful and kind, making the reader, пщ and Dale, all the more wary. As the paths of these two women cross again and again, the story gradually yields the reasons for the enmity between Dale and Taren and the secret that Taren holds.
Kenna White has given us a glimpse into what it s like to be in the midst of such a ravaging storm. She weaves пщ a tale that makes us feel as though we are in the storm s path ourselves. The aftermath gives us insight into what it s like for victims of an overwhelming, cata
Home About Mission пщ Statement пщ A Brief History of LLF Board Staff Contact Us Newsletter Press Releases Foundation Updates From The Board Awards Awards Ceremony Overview of Awards 2013 Awards Guidelines 2013 Awards Submission Form Current Submissions Previous LLF Winners Emerging Writer Award Guidelines Mid-Career Prize Guidelines Pioneer Award Ceremony Gallery Writer’s Retreat About 2013 Application 2013 Faculty 2013 Writers Retreat Fellows Scholarship пщ Fund Writers in Schools About LGBT Writers in Schools Recent Visits Book Clubs LLF Online Book Club My Story Book Club Lambda Lit Book Club Volunteer General Volunteer Information Internships Write for Lambda Literary Support Us Literary Resources LGBT Book Groups пщ LGBT Bookstores LGBT Publishers Book Database Literary Links Editors, Agents, Publicists Literary Organizations Literary Magazines & Websites Residencies, Grants & Fellowships Call for Submissions
Lambda Literary Review Editorial Team Comments Policy How to Submit Books for Review How to Write for LLR Advertise With Us! Reviews Poetry Bio/Memoir General Fiction Speculative Romance Mystery Nonfiction Young Adult Drama Erotica Film Illustrated Anthology Interviews Features Poetry Spotlight Opinion LFF Book Club News Events Events Submit an Event Call For Submissons Call for Submissions Submit a Call For Submission
The story, пщ Simple Pleasures (Bella Books), starts out benignly enough, with avid softball пщ player Dale Kinsel participating in a charity game. As the account begins, we find that Dale is annoyed, even irate, over the presence of one Taren Dorsey, пщ who has joined the opposing team, but who couldn t play a decent game of softball if her life depended on it. Why Dale is so put out by Taren s presence пщ slowly begins to come to light as the story unfolds. Years before, there was a confrontation between Dale and Taren. Words were exchanged, and an unpleasant awkwardness surrounded by anger ensued. As a result Dale has kept her distance from the woman, in spite of the fact that Taren s sister пщ was Dale s partner, Sydney, who succumbed to cancer several years before the story opens.
Through пщ sheer force of will, Dale finishes the game, a benefit for cancer victims, and returns home to become enveloped by the well documented, devastating EF-5 tornado that hit Joplin, Missouri, and left a portion пщ of the town shattered пщ and flattened. As Dale emerges from the wreckage that was her home only moments пщ before, she finds her neighborhood has been decimated. She walks around in shock, meeting up with neighbors who have managed to survive the devastation, trying to take it all in and understand what has happened to their community. Slowly, Dale pulls herself together and starts пщ to go through the rubble, trying to salvage the pieces of her life with her now-deceased partner. As Dale soon discovers, there isn t much left for her to keep. The tornado пщ has taken or destroyed it all.
Dale s somewhat self-centered, although obviously caring, sister, tries to come to Dale s aid by offering her a place to stay in an already too small apartment. пщ However, Dale is driven back to her neighborhood to try to protect пщ her property from looters. Deciding a tent won t do, she ends up across town at Taren s house, asking if she can buy back a camping trailer that Sidney had insisted she and Dale give Taren when they no longer had use for it. Taren, to her credit, seems to want to help Dale and offers her the trailer. When Taren shows up on Dale s property later with other offers of help, Dale is stymied at her show of goodwill.
In direct opposition to Taren s reaction to Dale s troubles, Dale s new relationship with a woman named Janice quickly reveals her to be immature пщ and even more self-centered that Dale s sister, and one wonders how a down-to-earth person like Dale can tolerate this woman. Janice is obviously not the woman of Dale s dreams. As a matter of fact, her actions may result in Dale problems multiplying if she isn t strong enough to act.
As Dale tries to put her life together, she s confronted with difficulties in getting through the red tape in which the lives of victims of such tragedies become entangled. In addition, some of the death and destruction Dale has experienced leaves her with survivor guilt and difficult emotional challenges to overcome in the midst of her ensuing recovery efforts. All the while, Taren is thoughtful and kind, making the reader, пщ and Dale, all the more wary. As the paths of these two women cross again and again, the story gradually yields the reasons for the enmity between Dale and Taren and the secret that Taren holds.
Kenna White has given us a glimpse into what it s like to be in the midst of such a ravaging storm. She weaves пщ a tale that makes us feel as though we are in the storm s path ourselves. The aftermath gives us insight into what it s like for victims of an overwhelming, cata
No comments:
Post a Comment