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"Filled with wit, pathos and surprises," Fast Moving Cows and Other Tales is a collection of stories culled, it would seem, from memories and experiences spanning a life replete with its most fulfilling, trying, oddly comedic and lucid elements - or from the deeply creative mind of a master story teller.
Invoking snapshots of the past, each tale is complete in and of itself, though alludes to a deeper, layered and nuanced story, suggesting much that may have been left unwritten. Unlike family history however, often packaged to fit a narrative and accompanied by moments captured in time - black and white photos of war heroes who would never return or anecdotes of children who would know only childhood - Magee's characters and scenarios are neither apologetic nor tied together with the bow we've come to expect, which adds a refreshing, sometimes unsettling but undeniably compelling dimension to each. You'll "read and re-read" each of the 27 tales, seeing perhaps parts of yourself or others in both characters and settings, immersed in the narratives and unassuming beauty of the well-written and cleverly crafted stories. |