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Book Review:
The Sweetest Hours, Laura Pedersen
The Sweetest Hours is a heartwarming, life affirming, laugh-out-loud funny meditation on the many different ways we live and love. Starting with the clever and hilarious “Gus Hunts for a Job,” where love for a meaningful life takes center stage, to “Second Nature,” in which the smart but not stunning girl falls for the hunky lifeguard and sets herself the task of becoming a modern day Scheherazade to romance him, and finally, “This Santa’s For Hire,” where love means keeping alive a dream, Pedersen takes the reader on a compelling journey through a variety of original and delightfully unpredictable relationships. Whether the pairing involves a woman and her Alaskan mail-order groom, a guy and his dolphin, or a girl and her mission to save the world, you’ll laugh, you’ll think, you’ll pour a drink.
THE SWEETEST HOURS
Format: Paperback
Pages: 312
Publisher: BookSurge Publishing
Publishing Date: February 2, 2006Reading the publisher’s description on the back of The Sweetest Hours might suggest a retread to the inspirational Chicken Soup for the Soul series, but The Sweetest Hours, a collection of short stories that centre on the concept of love, strays from the formula by tackling ideas and themes that are not obvious in any conventional sense of the word love. Pedersen draws on seemingly every day events that magically transform into extraordinary events, with delightfully flawed characters that find unexpected faith, strength, and liberation through adversity.
The Sweetest Hours begins with the affable “Gus Hunts for a Job,” a story about Gus, an English mastiff who begins to feel the empty nest syndrome when the children in his household grow up and no longer need him. Normally, stories that feature animals as protagonists don’t translate well outside of Charlotte’s Web, but thankfully Gus doesn’t speak nor does he save Timmy from a well. Pedersen’s tone in this story is matter-of-fact and straightforward, so much so that Gus’ emotions and insecurities become bigger than the written page and we begin to forget that he’s a dog. In “Second Nature,” Deirdre, a shy and insecure bookworm, learns a lesson about judging a book by its cover when she falls for hunky lifeguard Kevin. For anyone who’s ever had to endure the unrequited loves and caste systems of high school, “Second Nature” has a sweet, satisfying pay-off. Deirdre, though, is written almost one-note at first, and her self-deprecation can exasperate after a while.
“True to Her Word,” one of the longer short stories in this collection, is one of my favourites. When bookstore owner Sharon passes away, her meek and withdrawn hermit sister, Muriel, comes into the sleepy town of Morgan Bay to tie up loose ends. Muriel doesn’t speak much or have an affinity for socializing, but once she steps into her world of innocuous books, things begin to transform in her life whether Muriel intends them to or not. The story is engaging from the first sentence (“The rain stopped and the funeral turned clear and bright, marked more by the steady conga line of overloaded SUVs heading back to Manhattan than any event applied by Mother Nature.”) and Muriel’s eventual transformation is neither predictable nor idealistic. This story is strong and could feasibly be expanded into a novel.
Todd is a perpetual scholar with little life experience in “The Twilight Home.” After receiving his umpteenth degree, Todd’s wealthy parents decide to give him the boot and let him fend for himself. Todd, aimless as expected, ends up at his grandmother’s nursing home and, through a series of coincidental events, finds his true calling. The narrative style and the thoughtfully drawn-out camaraderie between the elderly residents reminded me of the solidarity found in Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. Todd’s lofting and sense of disorientation is also something tangible to anyone who’s ever felt lost. The proceeding story, “Irish Twins,” is the complete opposite and relies on a dark mood to tell its story. The O’Shaughnessy sisters, Erin and Mallory, are exactly ten months and two weeks apart; this close gap in age forces both girls to share a room and enroll in the same grade. Mallory is the outgoing science whiz with a seemingly perfect life, while younger sister Erin is the complete reverse, and as a result is often relegated to the shadows of her older sister. While the way that the girls are portrayed is uninspired and one-dimensional, the complex relationship between the girls is anything but simple. Pedersen writes with a daft hand and sets up the atmosphere perfectly, with a slow but foreboding build-up that makes this one a page turner.
“The Casino Society” is a light-hearted and amusing comedy of errors. Remi Perelli, sick of her Wall Street job, decides to fly to Alaska to meet a man she has been corresponding with through a personals ad in the back of an Alaska Men magazine. When she arrives, she’s chagrined to find that Rick has moved on and is shacking up with another potential paramour. (This reminded me of a fictionalized account of “Bachelorettes in Alaska,” the short-lived FOX reality show that paired up women from the city with men living in Alaska, and that I secretly thought really rocked and was sad to see cancelled. But I digress.) City girl Remi resolves to win nature man Rick’s heart, with predictably hilarious results. Will Remi get her Alaskan man, or will she be left out in the cold? The last story of the book recounts the great lengths some people will go to change the world and live in infamy. Short and concise with little dialogue, the ironic “All the Rage” ultimately falls flat and could have benefited from some padded character development, as well as a more engaging style of narrative.
Pedersen’s collection of short stories is full of life and vigor, and the author has a high aptitude for spinning absorbing and succinct stories while maintaining a sense of enthusiasm for her characters and their lives. Writing good short stories is a feat in itself, and The Sweetest Hours makes for a great read. Some tales suffer from stilted character development or clichéd writing, but all in all, there will be something in here for everyone. ¤ C.Ho.
THE SWEETEST HOURS:
(out of 5)