This special collection features 50 of Don Tassone’s best short stories. The author has dedicated this book to his granddaughter Alice, who has Down syndrome. He is giving the proceeds to the National Down Syndrome Society.
This special collection features 50 of Don Tassone’s best short stories. The author has dedicated this book to his granddaughter Alice, who has Down syndrome. He is giving the proceeds to the National Down Syndrome Society.
I took my groceries from my cart and placed them on the belt.
I watched a young woman bagging groceries. She was short. Her face was flat, and her head was small. Her eyes were shaped like almonds. Her name tag said Dorothy.
When I was growing up, there was a boy in our neighborhood who looked like this. I never knew his name.
As the cashier scanned my items, I stepped forward to the bagging area.
“May I help you, Dorothy?”
“Sure,” she said with a smile.
We stood there, Dorothy and I, side by side, bagging groceries together.
If one sentence could summarize the overarching theme of Don Tassone’’s Collected Stories, it might be the following from Peter’s father in the piece, Who is Peter Caruso?
“We must be who we really are. It’s the only way to be happy.”
In one way or another, most if not all 50 stories in this anthology are about people striving toward self-actualization. It may be through simple tasks or heroic sacrifices, but Cassone’s characters all try to be good and do good. There’s Sarah in Spiritual Not Religious, who rediscovers her faith while struggling with terminal illness. Or Bill, who escapes the strife and chaos of life by retreating into his Tranquility Room. Or, Karen in Watercolors, who channels grief over her infant daughter’s death into painting.
Tassone traffics in positive vibes. Consider the following passage, from The Beauty in Things, describing Michael’s love-at-first-sight feelings toward a woman he’d just met in a bar:
“Then he looked back over at her. The fire danced in her eyes. Now, though, they weren’t just green. Now they were alive with the color from every bottle. And suddenly her face, though still plain, looked so very elegant. It was transformed, not by the bottles or even her eyes, but by a light that came from inside.”
“Collected Stories” contains a significant body of work. Structurally, the 50 stories range from approximately 100 to 10000 words, so while many qualify as flash fiction, others are traditional narratives. There are four thematic sections: Blessing, Fantasy, Sorrow, and Joy. The integration of flash fiction with longer pieces is not seamless, though, because some of the compressed works are equally worthy of more extensive exposition.
By and large, Cassone’s tales can be seen as parables, with plots and characters designed to illustrate some moral or humanistic principle. As such, they tend to skirt complexities and aim straight for the heart. Certainly, there is an audience for this kind of chicken-soup-for-the-soul fare, and readers willing to suspend a degree of incredulity will be rewarded. Those who prefer raw fiction with a dose of angst and uncertainty, not so much. Still, some of the strongest pieces, such as The Clearing and Who I Found in Angle Inlet, will impress even a hardcore cynic.
Finally, it is worth noting that Tassone dedicates this book to his granddaughter with Down Syndrome, and all proceeds go to the National Down Syndrome Society.