Review of "5 Short Stories from this Small French Town" by Pia Isabella

Summary:
A collection of stories in the series called "This Small French Town."


Review:
In this series of five short stories, the author shares her experiences as an American living in a small French town. The pieces alternate between heartwarming, funny, and just plain entertaining. However, the stories are poorly edited. Punctuation and spelling problems, run-on sentences and a generally clumsy writing style make the collection difficult to read, even confusing at times.

Several of the pieces, most notably “How to Kill a Guineahen,” feel more like school reports than short stories. “The Wifebeater” is particularly disjointed, sprinkled with off topic and unnecessary paragraphs that make this reviewer wonder if the author was attempting, but not quite succeeding at, a stream-of-consciousness piece. Of the five, my favorite is “The Green Chair.” It has all the potential to be a great story, but again the execution leaves something to be
desired and the tale falls flat.

Ultimately, the reader is left feeling disappointed. The author has some truly wonderful, funny experiences to share, but the writing itself is not up to the task of conveying these experiences with the vividness and depth they deserve.

2.5/5 stars
Reviewed by Aubrey Bennet

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