Amil Quayle

[This book was reviewed by Kimberly Weatherston, a volunteer with the Idaho Art Lab.]

Even those who have never even been in a boat before can enjoy this short story about a boating trip gone wrong. There is enough of a balance of technical jargon to make it interesting without being confusing. The tale is told with enough description to sketch out a clear mental image of what is happening without getting bogged down in details.

The people in the tale are especially interesting, even though there are few names and little description. Not just the group of four that went on the unexpectedly gone awry trip - the intrepid wife who helped keep the boat from floating on without them, her husband who couldn't swim but cheered them from the shore, and their kids who thought it was all good fun despite the accident - but also the Indian at the end of the tale who saved the narrator from spending a chilly night in a car, and even the never seen owners of the concession trailer at Lee's Ferry who were apparently fighting with each other.

In conclusion, 'Upset in Upset' is a very interesting short story well worth the 15-30 minutes it might take to read.

(And I'm STILL trying to figure out how they got those tuna cans open!)… (mehr)