I don’t read nearly as much as I’d like. I’m generally too busy writing something to give more than transient attention to the books I hope to absorb. This is a definite frustration for me – If I had 48 hours in a day I’d take some of those extra hours to sink more deeply into popular science and science journals, spiritual biographies, political nonfiction, and contemporary poetry, maybe even with time left over to escape into a few episodes of Regular Show or American Dad. Love of toons aside, as I’ve gotten more and more interested in trying my hand at writing some fiction, I do think I ought to start reading some of it now and again.
When my friend Glenn Walker (Welcome to Hell, French Fry Diary) asked me if I’d like The Dream Between to be a stop along Fran Metzman’s virtual tour for her new collection of short stories, The Hungry Heart Stories, I thought it was a fun and innovative idea. It was enjoyable to go into the reading experience with no preconceived notion of what to expect. What I found was that I’d need to leave my hope of escaping into stories aside. Witnessing the interactions of the characters in memorable situations led me to some meaningful reflection on relationships in my own life.
In My Inheritance, Metzman explores the difficult mother-daughter relationship, as she does later in Getting Closer. Frustration, indifference, avoidance, reconciliation, and hope are on the non-exhaustive list of elements thrown into the emotional soup. How does peace-making around the relationship between my mom and me compare?
How have I been like the woman in Christmas in August? What makes for healthy navigation through the end of a romantic relationship? Am I capable of distorted love and desire that could lead to the main characters’ acts in The Invisible Wife or Myra’s Garden?
Redemption prompts: How far could I or should I go to protect my loved ones and greater community? The construction of the stories invite writers’ inquiries, easily expanded: When is metaphor truly the best way to express an essential detail or experience? When will only plain words do? Metzman makes us privy to what her characters do, but the archetypal questions remain.
Author Fran Metzman is a graduate of the Moore College of Art and the University of Pennsylvania. She teaches writing at various Philadelphia area colleges and universities and co-authored her first novel, Ugly Cookies, with Joy E. Stocke. Her blog, “The Age of Reasonable Doubt” can be found at Wild River Review and deals with mature (sometimes immature) dating and relationships, as well as aspects of society that influence all relationships. The Hungry Heart Stories feature tales of people in crisis yearning for emotional sustenance, where food occasionally intersects the empty spaces in their hearts.
THE HUNGRY HEART STORIES
Wilderness House Press
ISBN 978 0 9827115 5 2
You can read more as the blog tour continues:
Wednesday, February 22nd
“Literary Debauchery” by Krista Magrowski
Thursday, February 23rd
The Dream Between 
6 comments
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February 21, 2012 at 8:12 am
Marie Gilbert
great post!!!
February 21, 2012 at 6:23 pm
Fran Metzman
Marie Thank you for reading this review and for your comment and all else you have contributed! I did want the stories to resonate with the lives of readers — even when a female protagonist goes to the edge (and one male as well). If a reader connects their own lives to any of my characters I feel I’ve been successful. That makes me a very happy author. fran
February 21, 2012 at 10:09 am
Mieke Zamora-Mackay
This was a lovely review, Renee. I think you captured the essence of each of her stories well. I identified most with the character in Christmas In August.
February 21, 2012 at 6:56 pm
Fran Metzman
Mieke It was great that you responded to the character in Christmas in August — haven’t we all been there. I try to go into sociological/psychological motivation of behavior and in that story I wanted to discover how those elements impact us — especially women. Social pressure tends to push us toward the seemingly assured guys. It’s implied that a man who makes himself vulnerable is a wimp. Not true at all. They are simply being more honest. Hooray for good guys. fran
February 21, 2012 at 6:36 pm
Fran Metzman
Robin Thanks so much for your excellent review. It is exactly the response I hoped for. To have a reader respond as though my characters intersect their own lives is a huge compliment. And especially when fictional situations seem like real-life. When I read fiction I, too, look to see how characters resonate with my own life and hope to extract some wisdom as to how the protagonist overcame extreme barriers. We all face those conflicts in life and when fiction rings true it is the ultimate. fran
July 23, 2013 at 7:28 pm
The Dream Between
[…] interview by award-winning author Fran Metzman, whose book, The Hungry Heart Stories, I mused about here. She got me to think a lot about the step-by-step process that happens in the act of writing as […]