The lonely woman in 'Eyewall'
In one of the short stories featured in the collection, Eyewall recounts the tale of a middle-aged woman who lives in solitude and favors rearing chickens. The woman seems content with her social situation but is later put in imminent harm when an unpredictable storm hits the area and disrupts her peaceful existence. One of her neighbors tries to convince her to leave with him and fortunately escape the fierce storm but she adamantly refuses. The young man, however, gets swept away by water as he tries escaping.
The anonymous narrator in ‘Ghost and Empties’
In the short story Ghosts and Empties, the main character is a married woman who lives with her husband and two junior kids in Florida. The woman enjoys daily night walks to escape the stress of conventional existence. The woman is filled with worries about her life and the greater world; the writer however fails to mention her specific worries. During her daily walks, the woman develops a custom of observing her neighbors and carefully documenting their habits over a span of several months. Her observations dive deep into the diverse kinds of people living in Florida.
Jude in ‘At the Round Earth’s Imagined Corners’
Jude is a young man struggling with his identity. He wants to define himself in his own way but is persistently haunted by his father’s mistakes in life. Jude is forced to revisit his childhood neighborhood to better interpret his past and move on with his adult life.
The Mother in ‘The Midnight Zone’
In this short story, a young mother decides to take her two adolescent children to a cabin in the woods for the holidays. The mother utilizes this opportunity to escape the stress of the city. The holiday cabin is located deep in the extensive forest with no phone reception. Upon arrival, the mother tries changing the light bulb and accidentally trips and lands on the floor splitting her head open.
