Official Review: Tales of Lost Love by J. H. Bardwell

gaporter · Post by **gaporter** » 16 Oct 2015, 21:15

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Tales of Lost Love" by J. H. Bardwell.]

2 out of 4 stars

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Tales of Lost Love by J.H. Bardwell is a short story compilation centered around love gone sour in romantic couples, families, and even between a person and his wine. The short stories are diverse, featuring poems and prose with various narration styles and types of love. I give Tales of Lost Love a 2 out of 4 stars.

The first story, "Who says you can't turn a man into a bunny?" is about a man realizing the distance between himself and his wife during a fight about grocery shopping for carrots. The first person narrator is casual and the story reads like a friend is personally filling you in on his marriage woes between jokes. While entertaining, the story itself is not particularly memorable for the lack of character depth and details. The characters and their dialogue do not resemble real people and, frankly, the stereotyped and unoriginal characters are annoying. The writing also provides no detail about setting, scenery, etc. Overall, this was my least favorite story in the book.

The two poems, "Wretched Wooziness" and "Rose Petals" are more interesting. They are short poems about a person brought low by his love of wine and a longing for the narrator's passionate lover, respectively. I liked "Wretched Wooziness" in particular. While it was not a masterpiece poem, I still found it interesting to be included a collection about love. It was thought provoking how an alcoholic's love of, and battle with, wine might be on par with a married couple duking it out.

The other two short stories feature strained familial love. "Cruel Barbs" is about a man remembering a fishing trip with his father when he was a boy. The boy did not enjoy fishing with his father, but reliably always went out with him every Saturday anyways. Eventually, the trip ends in disappointment for them both. This may perhaps be the most relatable story in the collection for many readers. The other story, "Cities in the Sand" depict a grandmother, her daughter-in-law, and granddaughter during a tense dinner remembering the deceased son, husband, and father Benjamin that bound them all together. They are not all on the same page in their mourning, however. The eccentric grandmother, Eleanor, and girl, Pikki, team up against the domineering mother, Dolores. Dolores would rather forget the unpleasantness about her husbands death, and is not above shutting down Eleanor educating Pikki about her father and her unusual name. These characters still have flat sounding dialogue, but they have more dimensions than the married couple in "Who says you can't turn a man into a bunny?". Eleanor and Pikki both have concerns about their aging and life stages, though not much is known of Dolores outside of her role as the controlling and shrewish head of household. This was my favorite story in the book, but I wish Dolores had as much depth as Eleanor and Pikki.

I give this book 2 out of 4 stars because of the lack of character depth and details that truly engage a reader and turn a story from being a quick read into something memorable. The stories all have potential, and other readers may find them quite enjoyable, which is why I give 2 instead of only 1 stars. However, the book also has many typos that are distracting from the plot and oftentimes the writing seems to become either convoluted or to leave out key details or moments that trip up easy reading. It sometimes seemed that the author was trying too hard to seem casual in his writing by letting certain plot points be inferred and by using unclear metaphors that the point was missed entirely. I often had to go back and reread a few paragraphs to figure out what was going on and if I missed something important. I also wish that the two middle aged women characters in the book weren't so stereotypically nagging, unpleasant, and petty to their families. This is an old, tired trope. In sum, the book had potential to be enjoyable but do not expect great literature.

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Tales of Lost Love
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Crossroad Readers · Post by **Crossroad Readers** » 28 Oct 2015, 09:40

Great review! Your critique seems very informative.

Tanaya · Post by **Tanaya** » 01 Nov 2015, 13:28

Oh my, that cat in your profile picture is frighteningly awesome. I like the simple but interesting premises of the plots, especially the one at the grocery store. Too bad about the lack of character development and other such matters that you point out, but nice job in highlighting your critiques. It does seem like the book has potential.

Post by **bookowlie** » 02 Nov 2015, 21:37

I enjoyed reading your balanced review. You were able to point out the flaws and still highlight the potential in the stories. Nice job!

anonanemone · Post by **anonanemone** » 03 Nov 2015, 14:35

While a certain amount of inference is needful for short stories, it sounds like it was a bit overdone here. Thanks for this interesting review! Even if your avatar is kind of disturbing...

kimmyschemy06 · Post by **kimmyschemy06** » 27 Nov 2015, 01:41

That was a very honest review. It seems like the author has some great ideas but needs to improve on character building.

gaporter · Post by **gaporter** » 21 Apr 2016, 10:36

bookowlie wrote:I enjoyed reading your balanced review. You were able to point out the flaws and still highlight the potential in the stories. Nice job!

Thank you! It was my first time writing an official review