Pallbearing: Stories

by Michael Melgaard

An honest and unaffected collection of human experiences that deftly tackles themes of grief, loss, missed opportunities, and the pain of letting go. The stories in Michael Melgaard’s poignant debut collection, Pallbearing , offer candid snapshots of life in a small town, where the struggle to make ends meet forces people into desperate choices. In “Little to Lose,” a son confronts his mother over the crushing prison of debt created by her gambling addiction. The aging divorcee in “Coming and Going” spends her days in paranoid pursuit of evidence with which to incriminate her neighbours in the derelict trailer park where she lives. And in “Stewart and Rose,” lifelong friends find love after their respective partners die ― and then face loss all over again. With deceptively spare prose that carries outsized emotional weight and pathos, Melgaard brings his characters to life in sharp-edged portraits and all-too-human dilemmas, creating engaging stories that resonate with honesty and depth, and linger in the imagination.

Genres: Short Stories

280 pages, Paperback

Published February 4, 2020

Reviews

[Darryl Suite · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mostly quiet and introspective. This story collection is reminiscent of Raymond Carver's work: sparse prose and about everyday life. These characters are either down and out, wistful or trapped. The stories are slice of life and unsentimental in tone. Basically we all love, we feel sad, we make mistakes, we make poor choices, we have regrets, we make memories, we all die. Because that's what we humans do. And the last story is a sad beauty. Loved this collection. And I want another just like it.

[Enid Wray · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of stories to remind oneself of never taking for granted the privilege that is being healthy, educated and self-confident, being in a solid respectful loving relationship, having strong family support, and being financially secure.

The characters in these stories live on that tenuous edge, always hoping and yearning for that ‘thing’ that will make them, or help elevate themselves out of the precarious circumstances they find themselves in. The men are mostly unlikeable, and the women are mostly stuck. They are all beaten down by the realities of a world which cares not for them. In total, this collection is a rallying cry, whether intended or not, that we all have an obligation to work towards a more just and caring society.

[Emmett Grogan · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the strengths of the short story form is that it allows an author to play around with different tones, crafting situations that veer from comedy to tragedy, action to introspection.

It's a cliché that most reviewers skim only the first and last stories of any debut collection, but I recommend serious readers savour "Little to Lose", "Auction", "Low Risk", "How Nice It Would Be", and "The Money" to get a sense of Melgaard's remarkable third-person narrative range. Save "A Pregnancy", "What She'd Remember" and "Stewart and Rose" for when you want your heart broken.

To be letter-perfect is to offer a short story that can't be improved upon: not too long; not too short; allows you to walk in the shoes of another human being for a few moments; and that sticks with you for some time after you have turned the last page.

I've read this collection from cover-to-cover three times since it was published in 2020: while one or two of the stories presented here are a little undercooked, to my taste (more potential, than the realization of that potential) this is otherwise a collection of EIGHTEEN short stories that are pretty much letter-perfect. Not a statement I make lightly, but well-deserved praise.

[Warren Layberry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four stars only because I couldn't give it 3.5. I liked it, but I wanted to like it more than I did. The writing was good and the characters were well rendered. I just felt—how to put this—the stories were, at times, a bit on the light side. Like these were distilled fragments of undeveloped novels. Maybe that's not fair.

[Anuja Varghese · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well-crafted collection of stories written in sparse, unflinching prose. Melgaard’s characters are deeply flawed, all struggling to get by with what they’ve got. There are no great quests here, no magic, no happily ever afters - each story presents a stark snapshot that captures within its tight frame the beauty and the tragedy of everyday life. Altogether, a perceptive and powerful debut!

[Diane Melanson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful collection of short stories.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very well done!

[Fawn Parker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good and classic storytelling