Traveling Left of Center and Other Stories - Nancy Christie - ★★★.¾

AUTHOR: Nancy Christie

GENRE: Short Story Collection.

PUBLICATION DATE: October 22, 2019

RATING: 3.7 stars.

In a Nutshell: A short story collection filled with characters who face life’s challenges in an atypical way. Excellent plots, characters, emotions and endings in most of the stories. Very impressive, especially for a debut collection. Recommended!

This book contains eighteen stories, each of which has a character in a tough situation. When such cases usually occur in fiction, you will see the character’s resilience, bravery, and hopefulness. Not in this book, though. To some extent, the response given by the lead characters in most of the stories to such life-altering issues is more the kind we see in real life. The reactions you find in this book cover everything except anything inspiring. You have characters fuming at their fate, or escaping their burdens, or repeating previous mistakes. The result is a strange medley of disturbing and entertaining.

Let me tell you a funny book-related anecdote first. In India, we drive on the left side of the road, just as in the UK and several ex-British colonies. So in my head, the title indicated someone who stuck to the rules and didn’t take risks. Which is exactly the opposite of what it intended! 🤭 It took me ages to realise the significance of “travelling left of centre”. (See, I even autocorrect it to British English without meaning to!) Even reading the amazing introductory note titled “Afraid of the Dark” written by author Morrow Wilson left me wondering why such a title was used for what promised to be a rebellious collection. Thankfully, the bulb on my head lit up somewhere in between the titular story (luckily, the very first entry of the book), else I would have lost the significance of such a perfect title for this set of stories.

I had read Nancy Christie’s latest collection ‘The Language of Love’ earlier this year and enjoyed it a lot. It had been a heartwarming collection of love stories, and considering the genre, went mostly the typical way. This current book is probably its match in writing quality, but almost exactly the opposite in content, focussing more on the darker experiences of humankind. ‘Darker’ is of course a relative term, ranging from simple nagging to emotional manipulation to even life-threatening incidents.

Many stories herein are thus quite disturbing, even though a couple of them have splashes of humour. The narratives have a good mix of first-person and third-person POVs. Most of the stories come from the perspective of women characters, but a couple are narrated through male POVs.

The writing is quite fast-paced, with no compromise on character development. This was quite a welcome surprise as character-driven tales are usually slower. A couple of the tales were too meandering for my liking, but the rest worked quite well for me. At no point did I feel like I was reading an indie collection or a debut collection, and this is both! The writing is mostly impressive, with the author’s impeccable hold over the plot development coming out clearly in a majority of the stories.

Of course, this book might not click with those looking for likeable characters. Many of the leads left me wanting to give them a tight smack on the head. Human emotions are always portrayed better by complex characters, and this collection proves it.

A story is nothing without a good ending. Even the most well-written short story can tank if the ending is dissatisfying to the reader. In this regard, the collection does quite well. Most of the endings were apt for the story, even if they weren’t necessarily HEAs. (Frankly, in such a themed collection, one shouldn’t expect HEA endings!) A few of the final scenes left me shocked.

As always, I rated the stories individually. Of the eighteen stories, thirteen crossed the three-star mark, which is quite impressive. Some of the 3-3.5 star stories might have worked even better for me had they been a little more fleshed out. Many of these were not even ten pages long, and I felt like I could have appreciated the characters better had I known them for longer.

These are my top favourites, with 4+ stars:

🏁 Traveling Left of Center: A girl who simply doesn't learn and is still optimistic about her future options. Once I understood the actual meaning of the book’s title, this story made perfect sense. 😅 - ⭐⭐⭐⭐

🏁 The Sugar Bowl: Provides just enough details to be shocked without suffocating us with extraneous justifications. Cleverly done! - ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨

🏁 Watching for Billy: The kind of story where you don't know whether to trust your head or your heart. Loved the constant feel of uncertainty dangling over this tale. - ⭐⭐⭐⭐

🏁 The Healer: No way could I have predicted the trajectory of this story, especially considering the title! I always love stories that surprise me. - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

🏁 Anything Can Happen: The perfect story for this title! Had it offered some explanations for the initial scenes, I would have given it all the stars. - ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨

🏁 Still Life: A small story with a big contrast. Wonderful structuring, especially within so few paragraphs. - ⭐⭐⭐⭐

🏁 The Storyteller: Good storytellers are rare. The storyteller in this story was the rarest gem. Loved this beautiful but gloomy tale. - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

🏁 The Kindness of Strangers: A sad (and scary) story about the power our mind wields on us. - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

All in all, this is quite an impressive debut collection. Covering a range of human behaviour and emotions, this small-press offering does an excellent job delving into the myriad challenges of facing challenges.

Much recommended to readers who enjoy character-driven short fiction. Not for those who prefer likeable characters or happy stories.

3.7 stars, based on the average of my ratings for each story.

My thanks to author Nancy Christie for providing me with a complimentary copy of “Traveling Left of Center and Other Stories” at my request. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.