The Great American Everything
The stories of Scott Gloden’s collection The Great American Everything explore family relationships and social problems.
Anxious parents drill their five-year-old daughter on how to handle emergencies with frightening results. A man’s widowed, grieving brother-in-law adopts a baby under false pretenses. An unexpected pregnancy brings a variety of challenges for both the parents and their son. Dealing with the difficulties of modern life pushes each person to their emotional limits and does not always leave them in a better place. Often, their only rewards are a stronger sense of self as they move on to the next hurdle.
The stories highlight a variety of painful, complex problems—the pervasive fear of gun violence, a lack of accessible elder care, climate change, racial injustice, and sexual assault among them. But none of these issues exist in isolation. As the characters try to navigate each dilemma, they do so in concert with, or in opposition to, loved ones who have their own views about how they—and everyone else—should live. Solving problems creates new ones that are even tougher to address.
From the first story—“The Birds of Basra,” about a young woman struggling with the ethics of charging vulnerable people for a necessary service—to the last—“Tennessee,” in which a man tries to start a family as his mother slides deeper into a disturbing dementia—it is clear that life has no easy answers: there are only imperfect people making the best decisions they can in the moment. It is all too easy to relate to these characters as they are overwhelmed by forces bigger than themselves, but try to do what’s right anyway.
The Great American Everything is a collection of quiet stories about how large-scale problems fit into the realm of each individual’s existence.
Reviewed by
Eileen Gonzalez
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. No fee was paid by the publisher for this review. Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
