Tribulations

TRIBULATIONS by Richard Thomas is a collection of short stories that showcase human response and behavior when faced with sorrow and suffering. Do the characters succumb? Do they come out of the other side of tunnel stronger for what they survived, hopeful for what tomorrow brings?

This was not my first dance with the beauty of Richard Thomas's writing. I previously read his newest collection, SPONTANEOUS HUMAN COMBUSION and I was completely smitten with his storytelling ability. What I love most about reading his work - the story isn't over just because you've closed the cover or read the last page. These stories stay with you, in your thoughts as your imagination runs wild with all the possibilities of what could have happened, or maybe would have happened if it were a piece of longer fiction.

I love and appreciate how some of the stories tie in together. That always makes it so much fun for the reader to make the connection between locations or characters in a story that appears later in the collection. That's the sort of feeling we readers talk about when we say rereading a book feels like "coming home" - you feel like you've experienced something with this character or characters, you're invested and it always warms the heart to encounter them again.

There are 25 stories included in this collection and there is not a single one that I would remove. Each one I would rank individually as a top tier read. While they may all rank high up - it's for different reasons. Some filled me with hope, others filled me dread, terror. Some had me thinking about them for days, sifting through the information given and deciding just where I thought it would track if it were to continue. I experienced some that I thought were heartwarming, some that in turn broke my heart.

I would recommend Richard Thomas to anyone who loves stories that make you think, stories that run you through the whole spectrum of emotions and leave you breathless with just how freaking good they are.