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Little Bernie's Map
by
Troy Aaron Ratliff (Goodreads Author)
A recently unemployed family man is returning home with his wife and his son from a worry-filled vacation before they must face the harsh reality back home. What they never would have expected was the surreal nightmare they would experience on their journey back from one unassuming souvenir.
ebook, 0 pages
Published
July 22nd 2011
by Troy Aaron Ratliff, via Smashwords
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Read more: http://cjlistro.blogspot.com/2012/06/...
Overall, I loved the concept. The execution is where I experienced a few bumps. I tend to judge short stories more harshly than novels, because they’re so compact that every word really counts. To explain myself clearly, I’ll break it down by halves.
First half: Ratliff has a wickedly sharp sense of his character. Daniel’s nervous, hopeful demeanor ekes out of every page. I felt instantly connected to him, so much that I forgot the whole deal wi...more
Overall, I loved the concept. The execution is where I experienced a few bumps. I tend to judge short stories more harshly than novels, because they’re so compact that every word really counts. To explain myself clearly, I’ll break it down by halves.
First half: Ratliff has a wickedly sharp sense of his character. Daniel’s nervous, hopeful demeanor ekes out of every page. I felt instantly connected to him, so much that I forgot the whole deal wi...more
Nothing like a family road trip, right? Even better if it involves Disney World, right? 'Little Bernie's Map' is just that, but not really. Confusing, yes?
This short story by Troy Aaron Ratliff is about a road trip in which Daniel, his wife Gina and son Bernie are coming back home from a family vacation to the most "Magical Place on Earth". That was, until they got to Georgia. Tensions are riding high within the family due to a job loss just before the trip. Who wouldn't be stressed? Ratliff kic...more
This short story by Troy Aaron Ratliff is about a road trip in which Daniel, his wife Gina and son Bernie are coming back home from a family vacation to the most "Magical Place on Earth". That was, until they got to Georgia. Tensions are riding high within the family due to a job loss just before the trip. Who wouldn't be stressed? Ratliff kic...more
This was just supposed to be a nice, relaxing family trip. A way to escape the daily grind and forget, for a while, the problems and worries at home.
Daniel and Gina, along with their son Bernie, are heading home after a trip to Disney World. Daniel just lost his job, but they decide to go on this vacation anyway. It may be the last one they can take for a long time.
Bernie and his father have a game they play. Bernie loves map, he collects them. At random points in their trip, Daniel would ask Be...more
Daniel and Gina, along with their son Bernie, are heading home after a trip to Disney World. Daniel just lost his job, but they decide to go on this vacation anyway. It may be the last one they can take for a long time.
Bernie and his father have a game they play. Bernie loves map, he collects them. At random points in their trip, Daniel would ask Be...more
I liked this story from the very beginning. The story line of Daniel and his family’s economic troubles drew me right in. I felt like this was going to be a very touching story that many Americans today can relate to.
Eventually my assumption was proven false. The outcome of the story was very far from what I had expected, but that’s not to say it was bad. There was a great build up of the characters and their lives. Daniel was recently let off of work and this was the last vacation he would be a...more
Eventually my assumption was proven false. The outcome of the story was very far from what I had expected, but that’s not to say it was bad. There was a great build up of the characters and their lives. Daniel was recently let off of work and this was the last vacation he would be a...more
The fly on the cover of Aaron Ratliff's short story "Little Bernie's Map" definitely drew me in. As I started to read the story, I wondered what significance the fly would play. The scene is set in a family's car as they return home to Ohio from a vacation in Florida. The author centers the story around Daniel's thoughts, a father who has recently lost his job. As such the story invokes sentiments fitting of our economic times. But what about that pesky fly featured on the cover? All of a sudden...more
This story has been quite a surprise. It really made me gasp when I finally understood what was going on. It is genius, really. You don't see the ending of the story coming at all. Being the story of a family that is having money problems, it is a story that lots of people can relate to these days, sadly. But that makes of this story even more special, since it can be closer to the reader, and the reader can understand better what the characters may be feeling. I highly recommend this short, sur...more
The conclusion to this story was so unexpected! Troy has a great imagination and this short story kept me reading out of sheer curiosity as to what was going to happen on that highway when the first rumblings began! I gasped out loud when I finally got it and I immediately told my hubby about it! I was completely surprised! Thanks for a great tale, Troy! If you don't mind me saying: So Stephen King-esque!
Little Bernie's Map is a quick read, and what befalls this poor family is messy indeed. The mess their life has become when Daniel looses his job just before a prescheduled family vacation to Disney World is nothing compared to the mess they encounter on the drive home. For the record, I absolutely LOVE Ratliff's creative descriptions.
This story's got everything you would expect from an ebook with a picture of a fly on the cover. And more. Little Bernie's Map would fit well alongside any of Stephen King's early short stories. It's got some bite to it, that's for sure. Troy Aaron Ratliff knows what he's doing around a word processor.
One odd descriptive word right at the start almost put me off reading but I held on and I'm glad I did. A dreaming, short slice of horror all the more poignant for the reason for writing it.
Another great offering from Troy Aaron Ratliff. What this man does with characterization is beyond words. He captures the voice of the narrative like nobody's business. I was immediately taken in through Daniel's voice and thrust into his world. His interactions with his wife and son were real and believable, lulling the reader into a familiar sense of time and place accessible to just about everyone.
Even as this story unfolds into a weird and wonderful little gem of a tale, that sense of humani...more
Even as this story unfolds into a weird and wonderful little gem of a tale, that sense of humani...more
Apr 05, 2013
Lee Mavin
marked it as to-read
Feb 10, 2013
Teracia
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Feb 08, 2013
Jess Sturman-Coombs
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Feb 03, 2013
Joshua Atkins
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Jan 18, 2013
Jackie
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Dec 05, 2012
Len
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Oct 25, 2012
Evans Light
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Jul 12, 2012
Shannon
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Troy Aaron Ratliff was born and raised in Hamilton, Ohio and self educated in writing, art and voice impersonations. When he's not reading, writing and cooking up his next monstrosity, you can generally find him defending the galaxy from the forces of evil, feeding hippopotamuses, dining with foreign dignitaries and Zen masters, waking up to his supermodel wife, altering the space-time inter-dimen...more
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