Things Kept, Things Left Behind

Jim Tomlinson's short fiction is amazing. That is why he won The Iowa Short Fiction Award for Things Kept, Things Left Behind.

These stories are about people that will have you saying, Oh, I know someone just like that. They are ordinary people and they are not even put into extraordinary situations, just trying to get by in their daily lives, be it dealing with a divorce or dealing with a parent who can't pay her taxes.

One thing that I found wonderful about these stories is Jim's sense of place. He uses just the perfect details to put you right there next to the characters. In the last story in the book he talks about starlings and grackles filling the trees around the home of a couple who are breaking up their household and divorcing. You can just hear the cacophony of the birds settling in to roost for the night and know that the people almost feel as if the birds are talking about them and mocking them.

Impressive work.