Graphic Reads

"Do you ever wonder if life's not real? Maybe your life is only someone else's dream." In The Squirrel Mother: Stories, by Megan Kelso, you'll find a collection of stories that depict real life without the rose-colored glasses. Kelso digs deep and gets to the heart of what people may really think and feel, but might never say out loud. In"The Pickle Fork," we meet a museum worker who wants an old woman to die, so that she can obtain her silver collection for the museum. In another story, about the military, we see a raw and honest depiction of the government's and society's treatment of the troops.

Kelso tells it like it is. Her characters and stories don't wear band-aids; all the bumps, bruises and imperfections of the human condition are put out there for all to read. In some ways, this GN can be a tough read, but in others it's refreshing. Kelso's straight-up tales pack a punch. They are effective, well-told and memorable as much for their art as for the mesages they convey.