Fani, Eamon. Lifeguard: Absurd Tales and Minimals. Word Vulcan Press, Inc. 2026.
Reason read: as a member of the Early Program for LibraryThing it is my responsibility to write a review in exchange for reading interesting books.
Fani takes readers into a world of absurd and strange with tongue-in-cheek humor and sleight-of-hand doses of life lessons. Because there is very little substance to each story it is difficult to linger on deeper meanings. I could not become attached to characters or their stories as much as I tried. I really didn’t care about the lessons they were apparently trying to teach. Much like the person who takes your ticket as the amusement park, the characters could be anyone. All you care about is the ride. Lifeguard is definitely a ride to remember.
Short stories in no particular order:
- The Lifeguard – Arman is eleven and wants to become a life-saving human.
- The Beggar – a story about having trust issues.
- The Mustache – a man is fascinated with the facial hair of a prize-winning author.
- How My Wife Became a cat – just that.
- Some Pens and Another Item – working in a bookstore.
- Going – we know something the driver does not.
- Aremestan – a que of people using an ATM
- The Student Who Had No Ethics
- Abyss – code for apathy
- Ascension – sheep herding
- The Mouse and the Moon
- The Plane-Tree Residents Across the Alley
- Daisies the Size of a Fried Egg
- Stonewalls and Hedgerows
Author fact: Fani is funny. You can tell just by his dedication in Lifeguard.
Book trivia: this is volume one of Lifeguard so one can only assume there will be more.
~*LunaSea*~ 