Review: While I’m Still Myself by Jeremy Mark Lane

Details:

A passionate December love affair.
The meeting of an unexpected traveler.
The consequences of protecting a young new acquaintance.
A journey into an unknown past.

In the stories of While I’m Still Myself, Jeremy Lane eloquently describes the life changing impact of the brief encounter, showing that life and love are not shaped by an entire lifetime, but by the fleeting moments with unexpected people in unexpected places.

Paperback, 125 pages
Published January 10th 2012 by Tate Publishing
ISBN: 9781617779
(Goodreads)

 

Review:

You know those books where everything that happens is very dramatic and very tragic?  This is one of those books.  And I wasn’t expecting that.  From the cover to the synopsis, I had the impression that this was going to be a truly uplifting, even happy, book of short stories.  Instead, what I received was the dark, depressing side of life, the parts of people’s lives that are character building, but I was left without the growth that results from these experiences.
 
I desperately wanted something good to happen…to anyone.
 
I enjoyed reading While I’m Still Myself.  I appreciated the theme of the short stories, of wanting to be able to deal with whatever was happening while you’re still in your right mind, still able to think rationally.  It was a premise that carried through clearly and effectively.  I liked that there were different perspectives, different eras, different places in life.
 
I liked that Lane grabbed my attention with each and every story in the book.  I like that I needed to read the next page, the next sentence, the next word.  I liked that his stories were kept short, that he didn’t drag them out into novella length (doesn’t that defeat the purpose of being a “short” story if they are the length of a small book?…but I digress).
 
I’m not the kind of reader who always expects a happy ending.  But While I’m Still Myself would have been practically perfect in every way had there been at least one thing happy take place.
 

3 Trees: Well developed and interesting.

 
Get to reading,


*This book was provided to me by the author in exchange for an honest review*

About the author

Jeremy Lane is a writer living in North Texas with his wife and three children.

Jeremy’s first collection of short stories, entitled “Here and Gone”, was published in 2010 by Ether Books, a digital publisher located in the UK.
A collection entitled, “While I’m Still Myself” will be published in paperback by Tate Publishing early in 2012.

His work has also been featured in many literary sites and journals, including MUSCADINE LINES: A SOUTHERN JOURNAL.

A work of serial fiction, entitled “City On A Hill”, is being published by Ether Books throughout 2011
(Goodreads)

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