Friday, January 10, 2020

Review: Beautiful, Complicated Family: Volume 1 by Rosey Lee



Genre: Short Story Collection/Flash Fiction

Description:

Beautiful, Complicated Family: Volume 1 is a collection of five flash fiction stories exploring the connections that can hold people together or tear them apart. Like most families, the relationships in this uplifting collection consist of intricate elements. Sometimes things get messy, but it’s always beautiful. Read each story in about 5 minutes and get Volume 2 of the collection for free using a link within the book. The stories are perfect for readers who enjoy contemporary fiction novels as well as those who only have time for a quick read.”

Author:

“Rosey Lee is a writer whose work has appeared in Necessary Fiction, Bending Genres, Barren Magazine, Turnpike Magazine, and elsewhere. Her flash fiction has been nominated for the 2019 Best of the Net anthology. A New Orleans native who lives in Atlanta, her writing is influenced by the people, traditions, and food that keep her connected to the South.”

Appraisal:

By most accounts the definition of flash fiction is a fictional short story of 1,000 words or less. Sometimes a lot less. This collection of 5 flash fiction stories average just a touch shy of 1,000 words each.

The challenge of writing good flash fiction is getting adequate character and plot development into a limited number of words. As someone known in some circles for being extremely wordy, this ability in others is something I can appreciate. As the best songwriters can say a ton in few words, so can the best flash fiction writers. Often these words imply a lot and allow the listener or reader to fill in the gaps.

I found these five stories to be excellent reads. As implied in the title, each story is looking at the relationships between people, as in a family. Each of them resonated with me, not only being a good story I could relate to, but doing an excellent job in helping the reader to quickly know what was needed about the characters. Even with stories this short the author found a chance to surprise me, setting me up to expect the story to go one way and having the plot take an unexpected (at least to me) twist that made perfect sense once it had happened. A good, short (well duh) read.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 4-5,000 words

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