Ordinary Sins: Stories

by Jim Heynen, Tom Pohrt (Illustrator)

Overview

From a bar hosting its nightly Sad Hour to the moonlit sandbox of a retired army general, Jim Heynen’s new collection of micro fiction presents character sketches of strange yet fascinating men and women.

Modeled after Theophrastus' Characters—brief, verbal snapshots of people created by the Greek philosopher—Heynen captures not just the quirks and eccentricities of his characters, but also their humanity. Guilty of only ordinary and forgivable sins, these sketches reveal universal human idiosyncrasies as much as they do the individual characters.

Paired with the wonderfully evocative illustrations of renowned illustrator Tom Pohrt, Ordinary Sins will appeal to story lovers and collectors of beautifully made books alike.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781571310903
Publisher:	Milkweed Editions
Publication date:	11/18/2014
Pages:	150
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.60(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Jim Heynen has won numerous awards and is frequently featured on National Public Radio. He lives in Saint Paul, MN. Tom Pohrt is a self-taught artist who has been published in more than 16 books and various periodicals. He lives in Ann Arbor, MI.

Editorial Reviews

Praise for Ordinary Sins

"I have been an avid reader of Jim Heynen’s writing for more than three decades, eagerly awaiting the arrival of each and every one of his new books. Ordinary Sins is both genius and generous, a beautifully crafted collection of short-short fiction filled with keen wit and stunning acuity. Heynen is a master storyteller, and in Ordinary Sins he is at the height of his powers. Somewhere the ghost of Theophrastus is nodding his head in enthusiastic approval."— Robert Hedin , author of The Old Liberators: New and Selected Poems and Translations

“ Ordinary Sins gives you people-watching in book form. Each eccentric in this pantheon is a magnet for your gaze, their excesses fascinating, exasperating, bizarre—then suddenly familiar. ‘Hey, I have relatives like these characters!’ And eventually you will see yourself, recognize your quirks, and thanks to Jim Heynen’s portraits of us all, you may forgive yourself. Why be human if you can’t be odd in your own glorious way? This is a book to revel in.”— Kim Stafford , author of The Muses Among Us: Eloquent Listening and Other Pleasures of the Writer’s Craft

“Heynen’s details are intriguing, and his voice is entertaining as always, but what most stands out in these rogues’ gallery portraits of our own wayward selves is a gentle humor which makes us forgive, and even approve, our dark side.”— David Pichaske , author of Song of the North Country: A Midwest Framework to the Songs of Bob Dylan

"Heynen gives readers characters they care about, even if they don’t always like them." — St. Louis Post-Dispatch

From the Publisher

2014-10-08
A collection of very short pieces—some less than one page, none longer than two—that find inspiration in character sketches written by the ancient Greek philosopher Theophrastus.Heynen (The One-room Schoolhouse: Stories About the Boys, 1993, etc.) suggests in his introduction that the "brief verbal snapshots" of his classic model provided the genesis of this collection; the title and the gentle humor throughout attest to his own generosity of spirit. Only one character has a name—the protagonist of the final story, "John Doe" (and he moves through pseudonyms in a "pursuit of anonymity" that draws more unwanted attention to him). Every other protagonist (and the majority of these stories have only one character) is an Everyman or -woman characterized by some eccentricity that may seem odd but isn't evil and makes for some sort of common bond with the rest of the human menagerie. The author suggests that he might even be "mocking himself" in some of these pieces, "several of which are thinly disguised self-portraits." You might not want to invite him home if he's the hero of "Keeping One's Secret," whose "secret was that he urinated wherever he pleased." Many of the stories, like that one, are essentially character description without the sort of chronological progression that could be termed plot, but those with some action read more like parables or fables. "The Girl and the Cherry Tree" is about a girl who's warned that "if you don't stop eating so many cherries, cherries will start growing out of your ears." And they do! As a pre-emptive strike, "The Book Reviewer" suggests the sort of disdain that the author of such a collection might feel toward those who will try to categorize it, concluding that it's "all a matter of taste, anyhow." Perhaps "flash fiction" is the name for these stories, but Heynen has been writing them since before that term came into vogue.

Kirkus Reviews