Cheaters: And Other Stories

by Dean Albarelli

An intense, humorous, and sophisticated compilation of tales portrays the intricacy of relationships and details the betrayals, passion, destructiveness, and other aspects of burgeoning love affairs. Reprint.

Genres: Fiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[Pam]

I am not a fan of short stories, but my friend gave me this book and asked me to read it and tell her my opinion. Spoilers to follow, so stop reading now

So why don't I like short stories? Part of it is I don't like getting to know new characters, and in short story books there are a whole new set of characters every chapter. I also find short stories to be lacking detail, action and conclusion most of the time. No surprises here.

Looks like Albarelli never wrote anything else, and very few readers on here have read this book.

story #1 Winterlude. I didn't like the characters. I don't understand what happened in the end. Why did the main character pack his things and run away? did he break Betsy's mother's nose or not? not enough detail/explanation. the cheaters here are both the main character and Betsy

story #2 Honeymoon. another not completed story where a few things happen, but there's no explanation, and you never find out what happens to the characters. It took me many pages to figure out what this story was even about, and then when I did, I didn't like it.

story #3 Passengers. this story also is not complete. what does he see at the end? does he stay in his marriage? does his father in law stay? do they keep cheating or give up mistresses? what a nonsense story. obvious who the cheaters are here, the main character and his father in law

story #4 The Orthodox Brother. this was the most engaging story so far for me. I wanted to get to know the characters. still so disappointing to not find out what happens to them next. does the sister end up.wirh Michael? does she become more Orthodox? continue to live with her brother and his family? stick to their rules? is there some sort of rule that short stories can't have proper endings. that really annoys me. I guess the cheater here is the sister, cheating on orthodoxy?

story #5 Infatuation. this story was engaging, but strange. if the main character wants to be free of his student/mistress, why does he wait for her to end the relationship? and I hope Shushie (his committed girlfriend) finds out and, in the words of 11 ... dumps his ass. the cheater here is the professor of course.

story #6 O Sole Mio. I found these characters interesting, and im not sure who the cheater is in this one. actually not much happens at all.

story #7 Cheaters. easy to know who the cheaters are in this o e, Truax's wife and the detective, Brendan, both cheated on their spouses with Poppie. I dont understand why the detective didnt tell Truax about his wife's affair. because it was with Poppie who he had cheated with before? because it was with a female? a strange story indeed

story #8 very disturbing

story #9 Grace. the main character, Wynn, is clearly the cheater (cheating on his wife, Bitsy, with Sandy). it is never explained why his wife's attacker used a knife to write WIN on her chest. Weird story, lots of unresolved questions. Why is it titled Grace?

Glad to be done reading this. Not surprised he never wrote anything else.

[Judith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cheaters is right. Only one of these stories is named "Cheaters" but almost all of them have cheating as the main theme. The stories are readable, interesting, real. Only I did not like the main characters, who all seemed very much of a piece regardless of their different circumstances. Almost all are first-person narratives by a man struggling with marriage, relationships, children, and I couldn't like these men. Still, well-written, easy, possibly worth a look. I hope this book finds others who like it more.

[Patricia Geller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not every story was great but liked the complexity of his characters.