Book Review: "Here Comes Another Lesson" by Stephen O'Connor

Title: Here Comes Another Lesson: Stories

Author: Stephen O'Connor

Publisher: Free Press

ISBN, PUB Date: 978-1439181997, 8/3/10

Reviewed by: Shawn Edwards for Author Exposure (08/10)

Here Comes Another Lesson by Stephen O’Conner is a diverse collection of nineteen short stories which inspect the human condition through numerous perspectives and genres. The worlds contained inside this book range from realistic to fantastical to dreamscapes. A lonely big headed boy struggles to live in a little headed world, a soldier returning from the war in Iraq transitions to civilian life, the professor of atheism pulls angel wings from the clotheslines, and Robbie Radkin stars as himself in “The Robbie Radkin Story”, only to discover his co-star has become more like his wife, Beth, than Beth herself. Through each of these tales O’Conner examines the idiosyncrasies of familial and romantic love.

As captain of Here Comes Another Lesson, O’Conner leads readers down unfamiliar paths. Each unique story is different from the last. His ideas are original, but O’Conner is not just imaginative. He succeeds in fulfilling that most primal desire of literature readers: injecting real emotion into fictional settings. Some stories are dream-like, some are monologues, and some are told in a straightforward fashion. What remains constant through all of these is the exploration of human interaction and thought; in either content or manner, the direction is always towards new ground. The reader is taken to places of the mind not often noted, and the view is refreshing.

O’Conner is unafraid to take risks, pulling readers along tenuous paths to new places. At times I thought O’Conner was so deeply embedded in his symbolism and similes, that he lost sight of the story. A small number of his plots could best be described as abstract, and readers expecting conventional stories might be left disappointed. As each story is so different, however, it is unlikely that every story in Here Comes Another Lesson will disappoint anyone.

This collection of short stories is bold and entertaining. O’Conner captures human emotion in not only its peaks but also its valleys, plateaus, and craters. Variety is king; dissonant romances are included, as are apocalyptic tragedies, comedic zombie tales, and philosophical adventures. Readers will enjoy many of the stories in Here Comes Another Lesson, and perhaps find one or two that they love.

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