Ms. Hen reviews WHISKEY, ETC.

Ms. Hen likes cats

Whiskey, Etc.

Sherrie Flick

Queen’s Ferry Press

2016

Ms. Hen happened upon this delightful collection of short stories by chance. It is full of flash fiction, or very short stories, which are difficult to write, because the writer has to get to the crux quickly.

This collection reminded Ms. Hen of a couple of other writers of short stories she admires: Lorrie Moore and Mary Gaitskill. Ms. Hen likes these writers because they write things in such a unique way that it makes the reader pause and think, hmm, yes, this is true, but why didn’t I think of that?

The different sections in this book are some of Ms. Hen’s favorite things, and what Ms. Hen considers to be the great aspects of life: songs, pets, coffee and tea, dessert, art, cars and canoes, soap, and whiskey. Ms. Hen is excited that there is a cat in almost every story.

One of Ms. Hen’s favorite stories in this collection is, “Breakfast,” which is about a mother and son, and the chickens in their yard. Ms. Hen likes this because chickens appear. Evan makes eggs and bacon for his mother, and plucks a feather from a chicken for a garnish for the breakfast. Another memorable story is, “Microwave,” in which a woman dreams of putting a dog in a microwave.

Ms. Hen never thought she could read a funny story about a dead dog, but “Heidi is Dead,” fits that bill. It’s about a couple visiting the husband’s family in the Midwest and the family’s dog dies, and they go around the room sharing dead dog stories. The wife feels she does not fit in with the family, which is conservative and rural. The couple lives in Boston. Ms. Hen thinks this story is hilarious because she knows that somewhere in the world, there are people like this family, even thought she is not acquainted with them in her personal life situated in Boston.

A lot of these stories are about relationships, which Ms. Flick writes about well. It’s easy to picture the characters in these stories; they could be people we all know. Ms. Hen came to understand the characters and their neurotic tendencies. Ms. Hen is a hen who knows about such things.

Ms. Hen sped through this book, because she was engrossed in it. She would recommend it to anyone who likes quick stories pinpointing the pieces of human nature not everyone notices all the time. This book might help you to see small parts of the world better, and find humor in ordinary life.

Ms. Hen during the blizzard