A collection of short stories that had got to the end of my Netgalley list.

Dealing with almost forgotten characters those who have lived very normal lives and now either in middle age or old age gone to the periphery of society, even of peoples minds and that is sad. All of them lived lives of interest and seemed somewhat faded now.

Some of the stories left me perplexed, some were inspiring.

The Middle Ground by Jeff Ewing is a melancholic collection of short stories about people in small town America and their regrets.

This is going to be a difficult review. Not because I have conflicting views of what I am going to say about the book as a whole but the fact that I finished it at a disproportionate time when compared with the time I started it and the time I have had it with me. 

The first thing I have to say is that the writing is impressive. It has a severe and profound tone to it, as do most of the stories within. They focus on smaller towns and people who live in such communities.

It has considerably fewer pages than a lot of books that I have read since I started this (almost at the beginning of the year), but I have a partially good reason for that. It does not contain the kind of stories that you can take in at one go. I had to read a few over again to ensure I got the facts right. I hardly ever have to do that, and that points out the fact that this is not meant to be read at a swift pace. They are brutal in its depiction. The word does not directly depict violence (although some have subtle tinges of it). The brutality lies in the truthfulness of the narrative. People are shown at their best and worst, none in between. A few did not meet the mark with me, but overall, it shows the lives of people bound by the cycle due to the kind of lives they were born into and the show progression of time and age. I will not talk of individual stories (mostly because I did not keep independent tabs on them). There is not much of a wrapping up of a story before moving on to the next, something people should know before going in. I would recommend this to those readers who like a bit (or more) of grey in their stories.

I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.

Some of the best short stories have so much to unpack in their concise and meaningful shorter prose. Ewing's collection definitely fits that bill. There is a lot of baggage here - a lot of characters that have seen better days. Ewing's writing is mighty in its descriptiveness and he does turn a phrase beautifully throughout the stories: "The only ghosts they believed in were their own better selves." Admittedly, sometimes the prose felt a bit heavy-handed, but all-in-all this is a beautiful collection of stories, with vivid imagery that draws the reader in.

It was tough for me to be in the right mood for these melancholy stories, and sometimes I just failed.

Some days I found the stories too elusive and I was too disconnected from the characters, middle-aged men from desolate suburbs or American country far away from my world. On other days, I managed to connect with the sadness and the loneliness of these characters, and I was awed by the beautiful language. The collection reminded me of Raymond Carver stories, which is a pretty high standard indeed, and Ewing doesn’t disappoint.

I particularly loved the last story “Hiddenfolk”, where an oncologist can’t save his friend’s daughter and leaves for a solo fishing trip to Iceland that he should have made with them.

I also liked “Dick Fleming is lost”, where a middle-aged man wonders about a classmate’s fate (not even a friend), while being full of regret for his own life choices, “Silo” where two teenagers disappear and what happens to those left behind. A quiet despair sets in “Coast Starlight” when a small-town waitress finally attempts to go to L.A. to follow on a vague promise of a movie role, but she never quite reaches her destination. Ewing’s characters often lack the will to leave their circumstances, and depending on your mood of the day it might be endearing or infuriating. One of the more hopeful stories, and one with some humor, is “Repurposing” where two young people with small jobs in a small town eventually find each other.

This collection is a precious discovery, and I hope to read more short story collections like that one in the future.

Mr. Ewing paints vivid psychological profiles. Although the short chapters capture the reader, they challenge comprehension a bit. There is a lack of historical/geographical connections and some good and effective cultural connections. However, this seems to eliminate superfluous details while allowing the reader to experience the "close-up" connection to a wide variety of character types. In other words, it works! This collection entertains and enlightens.

After reading the first few stories, I probably would have rated this a 3. But, keep reading. There's something about the writing that is haunting.

The characters are all regular people, people who, if not content in what they have aren't not content either. But they also aren't necessarily happy. They are just living, surviving, merely existing even. There's a melancholy within all of the main characters. Anyone who has ever struggled to figure out what the meaning of life is or what you're supposed to be doing here, will be able to relate to the ambivalence that seems to hover around the characters.

And while this all sounds like it might be a condemnation if this book, there's a poetic feeling that makes it very unique, literary, and worth giving a chance.

Beautifully descriptive book about small town life in the Southwestern United States which leaves the residents longing to engage in urban life and mainstream activities. Having grown up in a similar small town and I understand the conflict between appreciating the charm of a smaller town and wanted to leave as soon as possible.

I generally love short story collections, and I especially love short stories that can be described as “haunting.” I love “slice-of-life” stories (think Olive Kitteridge) that take place in small towns, with characters that live quiet external lives, but have profound thoughts and observations.

This collection of short stories takes place in California, but not in the glamour of LA or Hollywood; nor does it take place within the scenic beauty of Northern California, near the Redwoods. It takes place in the dusty, desert center of California, and the characters in the stories are always looking in different directions, wondering what life would be like outside of their towns, but rarely making any effort to leave.

I enjoyed these stories well enough while I was reading them, but there were many times when I would finish the story, and not be entirely sure what I had just read. I also didn’t find them entirely memorable; writing this review is proving to be challenging as I need to go back over the stories to refresh my memory.

With that said, Ewing is a strong writer, and I enjoyed the flow of his language and verbiage — for me, this counts for a lot.

I finished it with no trouble, and enjoyed the stories as I read them. I liked the sparse scenery, the author wrote about, and I liked the inner thoughts of the characters.

I’d revisit this collection later, to see if I feel differently about it at a different time. For now though, I’m giving this collection three stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Into the Void Publishing, and Jeff Ewing for this advanced copy.

My interpretation of the link between the very varied stories in this collection - the middle ground of the title - is that point where someone becomes resigned to the way things have turned out, the space between regret or nostalgia for the past and hope for the future. Seemingly small lives spent in out-of-the-way, unglamorous places are nevertheless dramatic in their individual ways and we are afforded snapshots of a few here.

One of my favourites is ‘Dick Fleming is Lost’ - a school alumni bulletin causes a man to muse on what might have become of a classmate who left town and lost contact. George imagines the different ways Dick Fleming’s life might have panned out, in other words how his own life might have gone if he hadn’t stuck around, suffering humiliation and disappointment. Another that struck me particularly is ‘Silo’ about two teenagers who vanished and the effect this had on those left behind.

I am becoming quite a fan of short story collections and this one did not disappoint. I confess some of the stories left me baffled, but I appreciated throughout some lovely turns of phrase. An example from the title story:

‘I didn’t tell him about the way she tore me down little by little, how she would visit me after we’d broken up and hardly say a word. Come to me at her lowest, where she could be the northern star and not just another guttering match’.

A collection of enigmatic short stories that are somewhat reminiscent of Alice Munro.

The stories contained in The Middle Ground more often than not have a deep melancholy quality. Like random chapters from different books by the same author each of the stories is similar to the others yet unique in its own way. One or two have a distinct Twilight Zone flavor to them.

I often found myself not understanding exactly what a story was about until it was nearly finished... More than once I didn't understand it even then.

I can't say it was the most compelling or enjoyable collection of stories I've ever read but The Middle Ground by Jeff Ewing is most definitely thought provoking. I intend to revisit this collection sometime in the future as I can't help but feel that I may have missed something important within these narratives... Something that perhaps I just wasn't receptive to at this particular time.

I recommend The Middle Ground to anyone with a taste for something on the edge of reality (though not Sci-fi) with stories that make a person work a little to comprehend them.

***Thanks to NetGalley,the publisher, and the author for allowing me the opportunity to read and review this title