Rest Area: Stories

by Clay McLeod Chapman

This edgy, darkly humorous short story collection will take hold of your imagination and won't let go. Sharply tuned, haunting, and darkly humorous, these stories take readers from the country fair to the suburban home to the boy scout camping trip, flipping each stopping point on its head. Every story begins and ends with one voice, and each contains a mystery or turn of events that shocks, entertains, and frightens--and often all three.

In the title story, rest area, a father chats with other drivers while he waits for his daughter at a rest stop. She went to the bathroom, and he's been waiting for her ever since, and now he's handing out her picture. Have you seen her? Are you sure you haven't seen her? A remarkable combination of unexpected tenderness, deep sensitivity, and a fascination with the darker side of domesticity, these tales of ordinary people caught up in extraordinary situations will echo in your head long after you close the pages.

Rest area --
Fox trot --
The pool witch --
The wheels on the bus go by --
Spoonfed --
Chatterbox --
Michelle --
Second helping --
And mothers stepped over their sons --
Honey well hung --
Johnny Pumpkinseed --
The man corn triptych --
Correspondence of corpses --
Off-season spirits --
Poor man's mermaid --
Bladder companion --
A step off from fathering --
Milking cherry --
Rodeo inferno --
It goes rickety

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Horror

192 pages, Paperback

First published December 20, 2001

About the author

Books. Children's books. Comic books. Film.

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75*

At first I thought I’d end up DNF’ing this book after about 3 stories. I convinced myself to read atleast 5 of the stories and then I couldn’t stop reading til I was done with the book. This book is not for the faint of heart. I’ve read darker books but some readers may not care for these kinds of dark tales about the underbelly of the world. I fairly enjoyed most of them but will probably not give it a reread so I will be unhauling it.

[S.M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

You never know whose ears will hear your prayers and see fit to answer them.

Dark, disturbing, depraved, disgusting, demoralizing, dreamlike. A solid collection of short stories from the author of Miss Corpus, which, like its film adaptation, was also very good. There’s just something so refreshing and beautiful about Chapman’s prose that makes me happy and that I admire immensely, even when it’s describing a boy fucking a pumpkin.

My favorites were Rest Area, Second Helping, The Man Corn Triptych, Correspondence of Corpses and Bladder Companion. Wonderfully unsettling stuff that you both can and can’t really classify as horror.

[Ｆｒａｎｋｈ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was yet another happy-accident purchase and what drew me to the book while shopping in the bargain store is its vibrant red cover. I've always been quite interested in anthologies because I believe that the short story is an underrated craft then and even until now. I went with my instincts when I bought Rest Area and I was quite pleased with what I got.

The collection reads more as a series of first-person (and a couple of third-persons) accounts on fixations ranging from the most ridiculous and disturbing of things. The titular story opens with a father who is searching for his little girl when they happened to stop by for some gas and she ended up disappearing from the bathroom. The story is terrifying, highlighting parents' fear when a child is ripped from them by unseen abductors followed by the agonizing search and rescue and the delay of closure. The thematic resonance of guilt seems to play an important role in this story and the others as well which feature assorted characters who combat the delusions that they themselves allowed to be infested with.

There are stories about forlorn desires that remained unmet which had therefore inspired them to take more vengeful actions. Each story is a really fascinating journey to the heart of darkness, taking us first from the poisoned veins and right into the bone and marrow of desolation.

For any reader who enjoys darkly humorous stories about spiritually depressing characters, Rest Area will appeal to you immediately. There are no happy endings for Chapman's fallen and destitute heroes and heroines in this volume; only the inevitable quick stop to nightmarish possibilities, encountered because of a singular wrong turn at a crossroad that they should have never traveled in the first place. But, just like the father in the opening story, these characters seem to keep coming back for more because of the personal demons that they are locked in an inner battle with.

I don't have the book with me right now while I write this review but the one story that I could never forget was Milking Cherry. It's about a prostitute who allows her customers to cut and leave scars in her body as a sort of bittersweet keepsake of each experience. She sees herself as a container of plausible redemption for men who enjoy her in sin and lust when they crave for something more freeing and complete.

There are several more stories that offer this kind of dichotomy between hopeful meditation and the lack of it, stories about penchant nostalgia and terror of the past, and tales about obsessions that took a step too far in fulfillment.

RECOMMENDED: 8/10
* Rest Area is such a delightfully enjoyable read even if the stories themselves offer no sense of joy or salvation. Chapman's lyrical prose could be read aloud as well, preferably with an audience listening.

[Louize · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rest Area leads us through a chain of horrific domestic circumstances experienced by ordinary characters. Each story is brittle and shocking; honestly labored with unflinching reality. The prose is a fusion of rugged language and irony.

Please read the complete thoughts from The Page Walker .

[✨lee✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

um...woah?

[J.P. Cane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just off the interstate you’ll find the familiar places and luckless faces contained in the stories of Chapman’s Rest Area. Most tales are in second-person as though the reader has come upon a rest stop, county fair, or the woods expecting one thing and finding something else, perhaps funny or poignant, but always heartfelt and intimate.

[Ted Shaffner]

Seeing Clay perform these stories live is even better than reading them, but they still do extraordinarily well on the page. He's writing in a style that is all his own, and yet carries the weight and resonance of the great masters. So few writers today are able to pull that off. Definitely read this one...

[Niki · Rating 4 out of 5]

The stories in this book are quite strange. They are meant to be performed, which is exactly what Clay does at his shows. I love this book because when I read the stories I hear Clay's voice and can see him acting them out.
The book really doesn't do the stories justice...isn't that weird?

[Sheldon Compton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh have mercy I can't believe I forgot to put this one on here. Read this while in graduate school at the urging of Mary Yakuri Waters. So glad I did! It's basically amazing.

[Brandon Stock · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great collection of stories. Dark, twisted, and something new with each turn of the page. Clay’s characters are rarely what they seam, and it’s an interesting read hearing the stories from the character’s point of view. As the reader you are in the car as they reveal things, share things or lose grip on reality and sanity. You can never grab the wheel to take control, your destiny tied in with them for each story. A great read.

[Jeff Wait · Rating 5 out of 5]

So immersive! These short stories balance first- and second-person narration to make it feel like you’re in the story as they’re being told to you. Each one is so creepy and gross, while injects hints of humor. Highly recommend this unique reading experience!

[Lucille Bransfield · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Clay Chapman’s books. I however, am not a huge fan of short stories. These were mostly all good, grab you kind of stories though. The last one in particular hit home, I saw and felt the whole thing. That ride brought me back to teenage hood.

[Katelyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

God I wish I could write openings and ends like these. Wow. Upsetting.

[Peachy · Rating 5 out of 5]

These stories are meant to be read aloud, and some parts are so lyrical one is tempted to speak them, just to hear the words. Great, inventive style, which takes a four star content up to five stars for originality.

[Readingwithavengeance · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found most of the stories quite disturbing. Nothing wrong with stories that make the hairs on the back of your neck raise up, but every single story had something to do with death and/or depravity. Instead of being entertained I was left with a bad taste in my mouth.

[Rom Alejandro · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series of stories made me fall in love with the absurd.

[Gillian · Rating 2 out of 5]

While an okay creative writing example, the book was more of a high school assignment than a captivating story collection.