Helpful Score: 1
Wonderful, insightful, short stories!
This is a work of fiction, in more ways than one. It consists of three stories.
"Epiphany" is about the mental progress a man makes using his doctor as a sounding board. It also deals with a lot of racial tension. Which is probably the reason the man has high blood pressure and can't sleep without drinking and why he is seeing the doctor. About half way through the story I thought about tossing the book, but kept on reading. I'm glad to say I did as the ending was quite good.
"Harmony Ain't Easy" is the shortest story of the three. It deals with the intricate relationship of a longtime married couple, both of whom are medical doctors. The story relates how they take time off to get away from their practice and visit a rural area. One day the man accidentally runs their car off the road in a remote area. I won't tell you more except it is a wonderful story. Fortunately for them, help does arrive. But while they are waiting for it, and snipping at each other, they make a giant leap in medical science with the discovery of the Yellow Root Gallstone Flush. This is the best of the three stories.
"Relative and Absolute" is the longest and is a tale of three high school students who interview the oldest person in their county. He is a doctor. While some of it is interesting and insightful, I had two major problems with it. First, the doctor's telling of the "truth" to the students about the Civil War, slavery, Abraham Lincoln, Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant came right out a Southern Mythologist's Alternate History book. None of what the doctor says is true. Second, while I am certainly not a proponent of Critical Race Theory, I had serious problems swallowing the doctor's assertion of how segregation was a welcome, if not enjoyable, time for both black and white people. This is not a story you let impressionable young adults read.
While I do recommend the second story, I would never read anything by this author again.
"Epiphany" is about the mental progress a man makes using his doctor as a sounding board. It also deals with a lot of racial tension. Which is probably the reason the man has high blood pressure and can't sleep without drinking and why he is seeing the doctor. About half way through the story I thought about tossing the book, but kept on reading. I'm glad to say I did as the ending was quite good.
"Harmony Ain't Easy" is the shortest story of the three. It deals with the intricate relationship of a longtime married couple, both of whom are medical doctors. The story relates how they take time off to get away from their practice and visit a rural area. One day the man accidentally runs their car off the road in a remote area. I won't tell you more except it is a wonderful story. Fortunately for them, help does arrive. But while they are waiting for it, and snipping at each other, they make a giant leap in medical science with the discovery of the Yellow Root Gallstone Flush. This is the best of the three stories.
"Relative and Absolute" is the longest and is a tale of three high school students who interview the oldest person in their county. He is a doctor. While some of it is interesting and insightful, I had two major problems with it. First, the doctor's telling of the "truth" to the students about the Civil War, slavery, Abraham Lincoln, Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant came right out a Southern Mythologist's Alternate History book. None of what the doctor says is true. Second, while I am certainly not a proponent of Critical Race Theory, I had serious problems swallowing the doctor's assertion of how segregation was a welcome, if not enjoyable, time for both black and white people. This is not a story you let impressionable young adults read.
While I do recommend the second story, I would never read anything by this author again.
Great southern writer.Ferrol Sams writes a good story, he's worth reading.
