A Room of Rain

The narratives throughout Gary Finckes sixth collection of short stories contain newsworthy events that are chronicled secondhand: the shooting of a policeman the murder of a house flipper the firing of a teacher for punching a violent student the accidental drowning of a gay man in a flood and a fire somewhat accidently set by a juvenile smoker in a school.. Despite these surprising events the narrator of each story is an ordinary person caught up in the action but preoccupied by other things whether zombie movies collecting unusual words the oddity of other peoples sexual habits or what to do in retirement. . These shocking incidents become both central and peripheral to the narrative as Fincke portrays the fluctuating emotions and self-protective reflections of fathers sons and husbands creating a world where individuals rarely understand each other yet still arrive at moments of compassion tolerance perseverance and familial love.