3 out of 4 stars
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Illustrated Short Fiction of William H. Coles: 2000-2016 by William H. Coles has thirty three short stories, two graphic novels and a novella. This fantastic collection covers everything one is looking for with stories. From heart stopping chase scenes to a devious husband who tries to kill the woman he is supposed to love.
Mr. Coles portrays his characters in the most realistic way, one character that stands out most for me is Didi from Homunculus. She is the perfect example of a woman. She loves and pines for someone who isn’t all too nice and overlooks her, ignoring the perfect match that’s sitting right next to her.
There is always something in the stories that pulls at your heart, from bonds between parent and child to horrific escape. The one that really tore at mine was Suchin’s Escape, the poor girl tried so hard to get free but her end was way too sad for me, I couldn’t imagine ever being in that predicament.
Mr. Cole’s writing in this collection has a lead up and get the point kind of feel leaving a cliffhanger at the end. With Didi in Homunculus, she wakes up in the middle of the night to her friend missing and the story ends. Leaving the questions: What happened to Rudy? Will he return? Did he run away, like he said he would? Or did something bad happen to him? I like stories that have the ending tied up but Mr. Cole kept me reading from the beginning with Catherine to the end with Carrie.
I enjoyed the illustrations at the beginning of each story and the graphic novels. Each picture tells its own story within the tale and gives you a glimpse of what is ahead. The two graphic novels are retellings of two of the short stories Homunculus and Reddog both really entertaining stories.
Sister Carrie is the short story at the end of this collection. With the sudden loose of their parents Carry and her siblings must learn to cope with life. The story follows Carry as she and her sister Jessie (who took over raising her) go on their own unpredictable paths. Carry finding love right away and Jessie being lonely, trying to find the right path.
Illustrated Short Fiction is an interesting and well done work of art that allowed me to understand a more diverse group of people. With some errors here and there, I will rate this at a 3 out of 4 starts. The errors are very far and few in between that they really are not noteworthy.
Overall, I would recommend this to adults only who don’t get offended easily due to the graphic violence and sexual nature included.
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Illustrated Short Fiction of William H. Coles: 2000-2016
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