Sometimes That Happens With Chicken

by Wanda Shapiro

Ignatious Gillard is not what he seems and neither is his building on the south side of Tompkins Square Park. His tenants don€™t know he€™s a rich fake orphan with a dream that will change their lives forever, and they don€™t know how much more they have in common than their address. With historical threads reaching from Texas to Saudi Arabia, Shapiro brings magic to the mundane as she weaves the past, present and future into a penetrating portrait of human nature.

262 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2010

Reviews

[Ken Brimhall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Story Piled on Top of Story

Wanda Shapiro uses ordinary language to write about ordinary people doing extraordinary things for ordinary reasons. Or is it the other way around? No matter for what comes out is a bunch of Amanda’s stories and a building superintendent who fills his building with them. We get a wide range of mothers, fathers, boyfriends, brothers, sisters and acquaintances, and how they relate to one of the Amanda’s or to Ignatious Gillard, the building superintendent. We get ahead of ourselves, then behind ourselves, reading a language that grabs clichés out of the realm of clichés and turns them back into descriptive language. When I started reading fast a wonderful thing happened. It was like I was living.

[Georgia · Rating 3 out of 5]

When we allow ourselves the comfort of a dream and seek it out what is it that we unravel along the way? Though we may be labeled in the same way in the end our stories are ours alone to tell and discover what they mean for each of us. It is in the telling that the face of us becomes our own and the label falls away. When we hold what we dream we cease to be leaves floating around on a breeze and begin again with the renewed purpose of connection. One building. One organism. The truth of one man and the women who lifted his burden. What is our purpose if it is not to lift the cross and lighten the load.

[Bekah · Rating 2 out of 5]

probably 2.5 stars, but may revise to 3. a fun read but a little repetitive at times. some nice ideas but could definitely have been twice as long, would have loved to learn a little more about all of the characters.

[Antonia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Weird.