The president’s parasite and other stories
By Jim Musgrave
CIC Publishers
304 pages
ISBN: 0977650367
The president’s parasite and other stories is a rich collection of vignettes from life scenes written with a melancholic flavor and a touch of black humor in an easy-to-read conversational tone. Each story deserves its own review, but for this review I will mention some of my favorites. However, if you’re reading this and hungry for more, you can get a downloadable sampler of her stories on her “Let There Be Blog!” blog.
For this review, I thought I’d highlight a couple of my favorite stories:
Jim Musgrave’s attractive characters in remembering to laugh opens a window to everyday life to the “invisible America” that nobody wants to see. The protagonist of this story is a Jewish woman who marries a red-haired, blue-eyed Irish policeman, much to the chagrin of her mother. The story highlights the changing relationship of mother and wife as the two women learn to work together when the father-in-law, a Vietnam vet with Alzheimer’s, needs care and the husband ends up in Iraq as a hostage. I could write an entire review on this story alone and highly recommend it.
The bet It portrays a man who wins $117 million in a lottery and bets his pastor that he can cause more trouble by trying to do good with his winnings than by squandering them. If he doesn’t, he will give the rest of the money to the church, but if he wins, the pastor agrees to turn the church into a Church of Satan. The shepherd accepts the bet. He Talks about good versus evil! If you want to know how it unfolds, you’ll have to buy the book.
The tale IS NOT dead. Jim’s stories vary enough that there is no general marketing formula that can put them together that is not original, creative, and thought-provoking. His work affects the mind in a subtle way, like Twilight Zone. He entertains you, but he catches you and doesn’t let go until he gets into your mind and makes you think.