The Topless Widow of Herkimer Street

The title story "The Topless Widow of Herkimer Street", is a bighearted laugh-out-loud  story. Funny....with tons of feeling! 

Another inventive collection.....hooked from start to finish.  These stories are lighter  than some of his other books.

Smart.....delightfully quirky.....and sparkles with wit!!!!  

Thank you, Augsburg University, Howling Bird press, Netgalley, and 'always',  Jacob M. Appel. ---Soulful in unexpected ways ...you make life a little more enjoyable with the books your write us.

Author of the superb, award-winning EINSTEIN'S BEACH HOUSE, Jacob M. Appel offers eight more solid and exceptional stories of ordinary people in often extraordinary circumstances. The opening paragraphs of each story unfold in addictive “divine details” of characters, settings, and situations. Eight stories ranging in perspective and age of the main characters, from the seven-year-old boy vulnerable to the possibility of a flat earth to that topless widow in late life possibly tipping into being a comedic geriatric. Instantly engaging and imaginative, ripe with perfectly placed and often dark wit, compact (and devoid of lazy adverbs) yet stuffed with delicious descriptions (“they'd been driving...greased with cheer,” “the Michelangelo of poor judgment and second-rate ideas,” “she studied that pathologically diffident quasi-giraffe, the okapi”), consistently original, the stories entertain and enthrall the reader. At times the writer takes us to an edge, be it one close to parody, tragedy or emptiness, but he knows brilliantly how to craft a story’s beginning, middle and always that perfect ending.

Each time I read a book of short stories by Jacob M. Appel, the sense that this is the apex of his publications, perhaps even of the genre in modern time, worries me - much like his risk-list-making character in “Bioethics for Dunces.” And I’m wrong; the next book comes out and expectations are exceeded.

Mr. Appel’s writing seems effortless and fluid, a style readers can instantly find comfortable and enticing. He sets his stories possibly with threads from his own world and his vast knowledge, but not apparently in that heavily interwoven pattern (such as John Updike’s). He stands back from his characters (and any pedantic writing) and lets them take form. How does he write with the sensitive understanding of those lives of quiet desperation, especially those late in life no longer facing “options as burdens” and finding acceptance as an uninvited guest? 

Eight stories. An accomplished writer (as well as lawyer, doctor, polymath, bioethicist, kind responder to fans, and licensed New York City sightseeing guide) holding innumerable higher education degrees and countless writing awards and giving us book after excellent book. We are fortunate readers.

I appreciate the early access to this book.

The Topless Widow of Herkimer Street by Jacob M Appel

This is a collection of short stories by which I enjoyed every single one.  The first story was called The Current Occupant::  About a man who buys a house in a mail order catalog.  His house gets delivered to his high school girlfriends property by mistake.  Her own house was demolished when Lewinter's house is misplaced on her property.   Lewinter's own wife is angry about the mix uo but Lewinter doesn't have the heart to force his ex girlfriend out with a lawsuit.  So Lewinter and his current wife have no house.

The Topless Widow of Herkimer Street;  The book''s  title story is about a son who is a lawyer who ends up having to defend his mother in court because she keeps sunbathing topless in her yard.

Lessons in Platygaeanism:  Is a story about two young boys who question whether the earth is flat or round.

Bioethics For Dunces;  Is a story about a girl in a coma that tried to commit suicide.  Her mother Corinne doesn't want to give up on her daughter,  Leonard the father almost administers a lethal dose of morphine to his daughter because he has given up hope.

One Wish is about a veterinarian who finds a bottle with a genie who offers him one wish for freeing her,  The veterinarian cannot make up his mind about what to wish for,

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These are just a few of the stories in this vast collection,  Every single one of them a gem    .

This is a book to savor.  I recommend NOT reading it all in one sitting, rather reading one of these delightful stories daily so you can savor them for the rest of the day.

Immediately likable, quirky characters inhabit the pages of this book engaging in unusual (but understandable) behaviors and circumstances that range from finding a genie in a bottle to tough end of life decisions.  I would put Appel's writing skills right up with the best.  He knows how to write colorfully descriptive prose without getting bogged down in wordiness.  Yet, he creates great depth of character in the inhabitants of his stories. As for imagination and invention in plot, I would rank him with Neil Gaiman, among others. Some of the stories leave you smiling; some leave you guessing.  All are remarkable.
 A true winner!

There is something about Jacob M Appel's writing that moves me to the core. He possesses a rare insight into human nature. His characters stay with me long after I have finished their stories.

I can never read his tales without learning something new. He inspires me, and makes me long to be able to write.

Every new collection of his work is somehow better than his last. He has become one of my all time favourite authors. The Topless Widow of Herkimer Street is a collection of eight stories detailing the circumstances that take ordinary people to the brink of madness. These tales entertain and will leave you smiling at the vagaries of the human race.

Thank you to NetGalley, Jacob M Appel and Howling Bird Press for providing a copy of the Topless widow of Herkimer Street for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

These stories were quirky, interesting and fun.  Definitely a good read!  :)

Rarely do you come across a book that feels like a breeze, relatable, pleasing and magical. The stories we're brilliant for what they had and the way they were presented.