Monday's Meal

When I finished the last story in Monday's Meal I paused, reflected, and then read it right through again from the beginning. Part of the reason for my re-reading was a simple desire to repeat the pleasure; part of it was a desire to understand what made these elegantly constructed stories tick. Just where was I drawn from a realistic beginning into the banishment of the ordinary - the strange, ordinary world that some of these stories inhabit? Just where is the edge in these finely drawn personalities, the edge that leads to the end? One can also learn from these stories. The craft, the amazing economy deserve study, but one can just go along for the ride and enjoy. I would compare some of the plots to Ray Carver's in their structure, but Edgerton has it all over Carver in his depiction of personality. Edgerton's people have depth, they are all different, and the actions flow entirely from their natures. This is a collection not to be missed.

This collection will grab you by the heart and wrench it right out of your chest. The characters are hauntingly authentic as are the New Orleans and South Texas settings they inhabit. These are deeply troubled individuals coping with other troubled individuals who find solace only in the bottle and the arid soil underneath the soles of their battered Tony Lamas. Edgerton reigns as a supreme American author. A sort of Ray Carver meets Denis Johnson. A literary man who succeeds where the academics fail--he knows plot, he knows story, he knows action! The last of a great breed that includes Hemingway, Mailer and Jim Harrison. It's simple. If you don't read Les Edgerton, you lose.

Edgerton's stories takes us down those side streets or out into the backwoods most of us have passed by. What we meet there are the people we have avoided all our lives. What we find is the human heart, its brightness and dark corners. And we leave and return to the same world we have always known, but it doesn't look the same. Joyously disturbing work, hard to ignore.

'Monday's Meal' is aptly named . These stories are salty and pungent with a hint of bitter chicory. No one serves these morsels, the reader has to dip his fingers into the pot. They might come out burned, or dripping grease, but the tidbit they clutch is never bland. The characters are alive. We know them well, or we know someone who knew them and told us their stories. No one tells them as well as Les Edgerton. Some stories can be gulped down and digested later. Some like 'Hard Times' cannot be gulped. It must be taken in small sips, sometimes days apart. It will take you that long to identify the taste.

Monday's Meal is a collection of hard hitting short stories. If the reader is looking for a pleasant diversion, look elsewhere. If the reader wishes to be challenged to think about life and it's many complexities then choose Monday's Meal."It's Different" is this reviewer's favorite selection from the book. At first glance this seems like such a simple tale, but the story stayed with this reader long after the book's covers were closed. Monday's Meal is a book one will read again and again.