2018 School Spending Survey Report
Elegy on Kinderklavier
Sarabande. Jul. 2014. 240p. ISBN 9781936747764. pap. $15.95. F
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Hemenway's title story involves a troubled couple whose young son is dying of brain cancer; the kinderklavier is a child-sized keyboard replica that, tragically, never gets played. The story itself is a fuguelike elegy that weaves through the couple's history, moving back and forth in time from the perspective of the grieving father. This elegiac note is present in all of the stories, several of which focus on the pervasive losses of war on every front. They include a small Midwestern town whose children become alert to the visit of the officer who brings news of a casualty in Iraq, an Iraqi town in which civilians are scarred for life in a fire resulting from a bomb misdirected from an American helicopter, and a narrow alley in the moments that precede a fateful step on an improvised explosive device.
VERDICT In this impressive debut story collection, Hemenway shows a depth of emotion and intensity that carries the reader from start to finish. These haunting stories deserve a wide audience.
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