Elegy on Kinderklavier

The stories in this collection are slightly longer than most short stories, with most bordering on being a novella. They require a commitment and an emotional investment and tackle difficult issues -- PTSD, cancer, mental health. Despite the depressing topics, the stories compel you to keep reading......more

Hemenway writes very well; his inclusion in the Iowa Writers' Workshop is well-earned and it seems like he learned much from it. I can't shake the feeling that these were exercises rather than inspirations; there's a lot of formal excellence here, little feeling. This is unfortunate given that the s......more

I enjoyed these stories. Their contents varied, but they were intricately constructed and brimming with emotion and pain. Hemenway does a great job of filling characters with humanity and then stripping it away, back and forth, until I felt unable to judge the "goodness" of their actions, but instea......more

Smart, well-crafted stories that bog down a bit in thick prose and in terms of pace. Several stories concerned with the Iraqi war, a couple that culture-hop through Africa and Iraq to explore the complicated relationships and lives of gay men, and a crushing novella chronicling a couple's struggling......more

Oof, the titular story packs quite a punch... At the start of each story, I'd kind of think I'd know where the story was going and, even if I as right, somehow I found each one surprising. Not in a gimmicky way, just really solid storytelling.......more