by Tom Clavin
First published 1997
The characters in this collection refuse to blend into the background of small-town life. Each story follows someone who has decided that conformity costs too much. A retired teacher starts showing up to church in increasingly outrageous outfits. A bank teller begins telling customers exactly what he thinks of their financial decisions. A mother of three announces she will only speak in questions for an entire month. Their neighbors watch with fascination and horror as these ordinary people shed their masks of respectability. Some face consequences they never anticipated. Others discover freedoms they never knew existed. Clavin captures the moment when people stop pretending to be someone else and start being exactly who they are, regardless of what anyone thinks.
Genres: fiction, short-stories, contemporary
Vibes: intimate, thought-provoking, whimsical
Tropes: found-family, unconventional-characters
176 pages · Paperback · Indiana Univ