BOOK REVIEW: 50 States, a collection of short short stories by Richard R. Becker

Hi everyone. Welcome back to Bibliophilia Book Reviews. Today I’m reviewing 50 States: A Collection of Short Short Stories by Richard R. Becker. For this review, I was contacted by the author and kindly received an ARC in exchange for an honest review. This book has been out since 2021, and I apologize to the author for taking so long to write my review.

A collection of short short stories is not the type of book that I pick up very often. If fact, I rarely do so. But this collection was a pleasant surprise. The common denominator of all of these short short stories is that all 50 of them take place in the United States. But each one takes place in a different state and in a different time. The first story, for example, set in Idaho 2003, is the story of a farmer who is given one more chance at redemption after the death of his son. In Tennessee 1977, two runaways cross paths at a bus station with only one ticket between them. Flash forward to 2019, in Oregon and a family is evacuating their home to escape from a wildfire but watch as two men drive in the opposite direction, towards their house, to loot it. And in Utah 1992, a young couple take a wrong turn in a state highway and unknowingly find themselves in a biohazard area…All of these stories portray the American experience; the lives of everyday Americans.

My favorite stories were The Qallupilluk, set in Alaska 1982, where a young boy finds the courage to listen to his heart and follow it; The Chain, set in Iowa 2016, where a mother teaches her daughter to not do what is expected of her, even when something bad happens; it is important, she says, to know when and how to break the chain. And she is the first one to set an example. Leftovers, set in Wyoming 2020, where a woman wrestles with the grief of losing her father and the relief she feels to finally be free of her abuser. Spinning wheel, set in Florida 1969, where a man cheats death one time but not two. A Hole in the Wall, set in Hawaii 2020,  about two teenagers who meet through a hole in their fence and fall in love during the pandemic. The Domino, set in Missouri 1962, where a Jewish supermarket owner saves an Afro-American family from a pogrom that is similar to those Nazi Germany inflicted on the Jews in 1938, and many more. What I liked the most about this book, however, is the writing. Becker does a superb job at describing life in the United States for the past 65 years. It is an entire lifetime, and a person who is 65 years old today has gone through a lot of changes in their life. Life in 1971 was nothing like it was in 2008  or today. Life has changed in a lot in those 65 years but Becker transports you seamlessly to each one of the years he sets his stories in with such ease that you don’t feel the time jumps at all. And you’re quickly immersed in the lives of these average Americans, because we all have a story to tell; even ourselves.

I gave this an I Really Liked It And Will Probably Read It Again rating.