Kick in the Head

Steven Rinehart

On the back cover of this book jacket is a quote by Francine Prose that starts "Readers who just can't understand men, or who think they know everything about men, or who happen to be men, will all learn something new about men (and women)..." That's why I picked this book off the shelf at the library. That was a mistake on my part. This is not my type of book.

This is a group of vignettes from men's lives, usually written first person. Most of them have no real beginning or ending, just are comments on that man in the story. These are supposed to be "real life" scenarios. OK, that may be. But I usually read for escapism more than anything else. These are stories for the philosophers. No thanks.

If you are a reader who likes these kinds of books you probably don't visit my web pages anyway because I don't often read anything along these lines. When I do read something like this, I usually don't like it. The stories did not make any statement to me. The drifter in the desert was unlikeable and stupid. The insurance/ex-insurance company representative could have been someone in my home town. There was not point to the two stories I read about him other than life continues. I finally gave up on this about three fourths of the way through. I really didn't care if I read any more of the short stories or not, so I didn't.

Other readers of this book at disagreed with me. There are some excellent reviews there.