On "Floater" by Brett Rosenblatt (2746 words) ****

Let's talk about a cruise, a cruise you don't want to be on, a cruise recommended to you by your analyst, a cruise as recovery from a marriage gone bad. That's what Rosenblatt's "Floater" is about. What makes it so fun, though, is the voice.

Years ago, on first reading Catcher in the Rye, it was the voice that astounded me there. The voice had attitude. Attitude makes for great writing. But it can also make for bad writing, if it's overdone. Finding the balance is harder to achieve than one might initially think. Rosenblatt does that here. And what makes the surly, don't-want-to-be-here voice so much more interesting is that it's happening on vacation. If there's any time to lay off the cynicism, an expensive trip on a ship is it. Not our narrator, though. He really isn't happy to be alive. And somehow we're glad to hear that. Read it here at the Barcelona Review.

On "The Beat of Sorrow" by Brett Rosenblatt (1901 words) ***

In one of the best moments in Rosenblatt's story, the narrator recounts how the life of the drummer is one of numbers, of counting. The passage is beautiful, and this concern--with time, with counting, with the beat of the heart--is what the story focuses on. Rosenblatt uses the drumming motif throughout the story to tell a sadder, deeper story of a relationship heading south. Read the story here at Susurrus.