Synopsis Unraveled by : Emily Regan
In this collection, Unraveled, Emily Regan has spanned the generations, from the very young to the very old, to present characters in the midst of loss. Again and again, her characters' tethers are coming loose, and even breaking, sending some adrift, while others try to find their grasp once more. The losses in some of these stories are devastating because they mostly deal with a loved one's leaving, either intentionally or unintentionally. In our time, to lose something is nothing new: a job, a foreclosed house, or a repossessed car. But Regan delves into how the psyche responds to the real emotional extremes of loss. The death of a loved one is life changing. But when a character simply leaves out of selfishness or self-preservation, abandoning a child out in the yard on a swing set, the ramification can be life destroying.Some of these stories I've read in earlier incarnations and some are new to me, as they will be to the fortunate readers of this collection. "Squirrels" shows a widow becoming undone, heralding the end of her freedom of living alone. Her longing for her dead husband has driven her to attack, in funny and crazed ways, an unseen army of squirrels. She is convinced the squirrels want her out of her house. But her real evictor, her daughter, is more difficult to conquer. In "Visiting Day" we witness a vital elderly woman, who is strong and confident at the start, lose her way. All because the old sometimes have a way of reverting to acting like school children, and the simple action of sitting down at a table can have debilitating consequences. "Mirror, Mirror" is a nice reboot of a fairy tale, but there is no happily ever after for Mariella. The flash fiction, "Five", is one of my favorites in this collection. Regan is pitch-perfect in showing, through actions and dialogue, this emotional moment. A young child's birthday is set aside because of a down deep hurt. And more escapes ensue.In the longest piece in this collection, "Loose Threads", Anne navigates through the coming apart of her family after the death of her brother. Addictions sever the many ties between characters throughout this novella: from drugs, to abusive relationships, to victimization. In the end, though, there comes finally a kind of redemption by way of a baby's birth. Anne is reconnecting with a tether that may bring her back to where she deserves to be.This is Emily Regan's first book. And I'm certain it will not be her last. She has done something here that calls for attention. She has opened familiar wounds that we need to consider, but will not be able to readily heal. And, as many of us may admit, sometimes running away from what hurts us seems the easiest way out. Although, I must acknowledge that Regan, once a student of mine, is now instructing me with her wonderful writing and vivid characters that easiest may work for a moment, but the many moments, days, weeks, and years that follow tend to have a way of making life more and more difficult. Good writing, in my opinion, should present this outcome, and Emily Regan is a very good writer.-- Dan Crawley (from the Preface)
