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English teachers across the nation rejoice! There is now a book
out there
for dissection and analysis that rivals Shakespeare and Hemingway.
Mark Hostutler’s collection of short stories will challenge
you
intellectually. If a challenge makes you happy, then happiness lies
within.
Hostutler’s skill at describing the surroundings of the characters
will
leave you reaching for your thesaurus. If you don’t like to be challenged
by
what you read, however, this book is not for you.
The
Crossroads consists of seven short stories and a small introduction by
the author.
The introduction sets the tone for this piece of fiction. All of
the stories are
well-written, complete works. A problem many authors have in
short works of fiction is
having a definite start, middle, and end.
Hostutler does not have this
problem.
As I read, it felt as though as I was getting a glimpse of the
characters’
lives by seeing them through a window. His characters — from the
21-year-old
Peter, at a bedside vigil with his dying father, to Shawn Justis, the
exiled
criminal living his life in a jail no one knows how to get to, and no
one
can escape from — almost seem like an old friend that I need to
call.
This isn’t a quick read due to the high level of English vocabulary
used,
but it is an interesting one. Some of the descriptions are very poetic. I can
see English Literature classes
analyzing this book in a decade or so, and I think
that’s what Hostutler was
thinking when he wrote it.
