#Bookreview – Life in a Flash by Geoff Le Pard

What Amazon says

Life is fast, life is short. In a series of short fiction pieces, most under 500 words, we explore the world, its inhabitants and their trials and tribulations, their ups and downs and sideways shifts, all with humour and decent grammar. You’ll find something to amuse and intrigue here and if, unlikely as it is, one piece isn’t for you, well, turn the page and start again.

My review

It is amazing to me how a piece of flash fiction or a really short story can have a huge  impact on you. The imagery and idea can bore into your mind and take up residency there so that you keep going back to the idea and turning it over and reflecting on it. To me, a huge reader all my life, a piece of writing that can do that to you is amazing. I found a number of pieces of writing like this in Geoff Le Pard’s book, Life in a Flash.

There are a few pieces with the common theme of planet Earth effectively being used as a plaything of the gods. The gods wreak havoc on Earth when they are feeling a bit boisterous and it has huge implications to the humans that live there. I thought the stories in this theme were really fun and unique.

Cold, Cold, Snow was the story in this collection that made the biggest impact on me. The idea of a woman and her children being intrigued by, and extending the hand of friendship, to an elderly man who is guarding a building site warmed my heart. The weather is terribly cold in the story and the old man has a fire to keep him warm. The fire is quite central to the story as it plays a leading role in the beginning and end of the friendship.

Another story that took over my mind was It’ll be Lonely This Christmas – Please. In under 500 words, Geoff conveys the dreadful loneliness and sadness of the loss of a spouse by an elderly man. He depicts the relationships between the old man and his deceased wife’s friends, his son and an old friend of his during his first Christmas alone and really captures how the old man sees and feels about what is happening around him.

Another Amazon review

Sarah Brenton rated this book 5 out of 5 stars and said:

I’m a huge fan of flash fiction so was looking forward to reading this. I was not disappointed. The stories and this author’s writing style are fabulous.

Le Pard has a talent for injecting humor into wildly different situations. This book provides readers with lots of laughs. There are a few comical retellings of myths and legends, a couple chuckle-worthy ‘real life’ scenarios, and some random silliness.

I’d be remiss not to mention there are a handful of more serious flashes sprinkled throughout—unexpected but excellent.

Overall, amusing and well-written. An entertaining and fun read.

Purchase Life in a Flash

***

Purchase Sir Chocolate and Silly Willy at:

https://www.amazon.com/author/robbiecheadle

OR

http://tinyurl.com/zdokqjr (currently available at a discounted price)

Follow Robbie Cheadle at:

Blog: robbiesinspiration.wordpress.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15584446.Robbie_Cheadle

Facebook: @SirChocolateBooks

Plus.google: https://plus.google.com/105609586198905397891