Red as Apple

by Steven William Simon

An exploration of family, our desires, and our shortcomings. References to He-Man and Wiffle ball are included.---It has been years since Keenan had been to the farm. He had vowed to move on, to move up, but this has brought him back. To his introverted older brother and confident sister. After this, their lives will never be the same.

141 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 1, 2020

About the author

Steven W. Simon is a poet, writer, and author of the new novella I Think I’m Jewish. He writes through the lens of an outsider, that’s how he’s always felt, and where he’s comfortable. When not writing, Steven’s on the mats wrestling or practicing Brazilian jiu-jitsu, as that’s the only place where the world makes sense to him. Steven lives and works out of his home near Chicago.

Reviews

[Sheldon Peart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent writing ... but overdone.

Steven Simon is an excellent writer. whose detailed and descriptive pen few writers could come close to, let alone manage. But sadly for me the storyline in Red as Apple fell far below the quality of his writing. I thought he went overboard with his description so that it bogged down the flow of the story and at times I thought he was more concerned with his ability to use the language than with the reader's ability to follow the story.
The story did not excite me and when it became interesting near to the end it ended abruptly. It was really too short.
The characters were good also the dialogue but I thought he held back the characters and didn't allow them to shine.. This would have allowed for a more engaging story...at least for me.
This could have been a much better book if Simon had concentrated more on giving us an excellent story without much of the descriptive fluff, some of which I though was unnecessary and impeded the flow of the story.
Overall a good book. But next time give us the eloquence and the magic of the language in smaller doses.

[Mitchell Waldman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an engaging novel about three siblings who come back together in their home upon the discovery of a secret left by their father, with an interweaving of stories of their not so happy pasts and the return to the scene of the childhood crimes against them. A good literary exploration from the viewpoints of each sibling, in which we gradually learn about their lives and troubles past and present. This is a well written story by a skilled writer worth checking out!