3 out of 4 stars
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Contiguity by Charles Jones is a compilation of short stories that mostly fall into the historical fiction genre. This book is broken down into two short stories and four novellas that range from a page and a half to about ninety pages. The stories takes place from countries like Monaco and Singapore to different eras such as nineteenth century Europe and twentieth century America.
The first novella is about a man named Conrad Phelps who “broke the bank” at Monte Carlo Casino. In the first short story, a truck driver goes home to see his wife and kids for Christmas. For the second novella, Tom Slocum is a U.S. Marshall who captures outlaws during the Wild West era. In the next novella, Captain Will finds himself in a crisis when his ship catches on fire. The next short story is in the first person perspective of someone reminiscing of the past. The last novella is about the relationship between two interracial couple during World War 2.
I like the wide range of countries and eras that this book covers. My favorite part of the book was reading about Captain Will and the fire that broke out on his ship. From the start, the foreshadowing and the tension made this novella suspenseful. Although I knew from the start what caused the fire, it was interesting to read about the effects it had on each character.
Each character had their own voice and their own personality. Not one of the characters sounded the same, and the characterizations of each character were different. Lela is a character from the last novella, and she is portrayed as a strong, but ruthless woman. On the other hand, Anna is a character from the second novella, and she is kindhearted, but willing to do anything necessary to save her loved ones. Both characters are portrayed as strong women, but their actions are very different from each other.
Most of the novellas had vivid descriptions of the scenery. The background information for many of the characters were detailed. Although the book consisted of short stories, I was still able to connect with the characters and relate to them.
In some of the novellas, the author often repeated information. For example, the author talked about Tom Slocum’s past twice. The author described how Tom lost his wife in two different parts of the story. In the novella with Captain Will, there were some repetitive information and some of the information was not necessary.
Overall, I rate this book a 3 out of 4 stars. There were multiple grammatical errors which often ruined the flow of the book. However, I liked reading about different eras and countries that the stories take place. I would recommend this book to those who like to read short stories or novellas.
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Contiguity
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