1 minute read
NINE WOMEN NINE STORIES
Tony Tedeschi
Take Nine Women on vacation with you . . . Their short stories, that is.
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Whether on the beach, at the lakefront, in a deck chair, an airplane seat or railroad berth, a story a day provides nine days of engaging reading. While each is a story unto itself, they stitch together into the larger romantic (mis)adventures of Michael Rhodes, world traveler, bon vivant, creative writer. However you describe him he’s nothing if not interesting subject matter. Although, as the writer, he is in control of the narrative. So, take Nine Women away with you. They’ll be happy to come along for some truly special vacation reading.
Tedeschi explores themes of love and loneliness, fiction and truth, by following a writer reflecting on encounters with a variety of women . . . This provocative collection will appeal to readers who want a searching, slightly pained confession of what a (fictionalized) man like this thinks when he thinks back on the women with whom he's felt a tingling chemistry. . . The mystery is how much of this is Rhodes’s projection. “I never know the whole story, unless, of course, I write it myself,” Rhodes muses, an acknowledgement that he’s forever guessing at what others feel. Nine Women suggests, with some poetry and insight, that for some men true connection is fleeting.
In early 1970s New York City, writer Michael Rhodes sits in a cafe observing women at another table In the stories that follow, Rhodes recounts his interactions with various women . . . Tedeschi’s collection calls to mind the Fellini film, “8 ½,” with its spotlight on women influencing a creative artist’s life. Some of Rhodes’s musings are more tantalizing than revelatory, leaving the reader wishing for more information about his “other semi-successful marriage.” Yet even the more fleeting encounters included here are memorable, including one with Gabby, a misunderstood young woman Rhodes met in Haiti who “managed to expose me as the lead character in my own story and definitely not a sympathetic one.” Imaginative, introspective explorations of the impact of women on one writer’s journey.
Kirkus Review https://www.amazon.com/Nine-Women-Stories-TonyTedeschi/dp/B0C87PX12X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3CV1UKGYEUYII&keywords=Nine+women+ni ne+stories+Tony+Tedeschi&qid=1687202150&s=books&sprefix=nine+women+nine+stories+t ony+tedeschi%2Cstripbooks%2C67&sr=1-1
