All of the stories in The Benefits of Breathing are about love. Some are afraid to love. Others love yet stay apart. Some only pretend to love, yet in many cases, love continues even after death. Not everyone is honest when it comes to love; some set out only to deceive. And never forget that the love of a dog, man’s best friend, is so very special.
1) “Joni Paredes” – At her daughter’s wedding, Joni meets a man and is more than slightly attracted to him. But the thought of falling in love scares her.
2) “You Wreck Me, Baby” – A sweet story of love that is returned but not in the way it’s wanted.
3) “7 Truths About Love” – Herein lie seven awesome truths about love, and one who is afraid to love must learn to love again.
4) “Jerry with a Twist” – Jerry struggles with whether or not to give up his acting career, which he loves. Since his acting doesn’t earn him much money, he has a job at Home Depot, and his boss there wants to promote him. He needs the money to better support his pregnant girlfriend, but it would require him to give up the job he loves. Does he love his acting career more than his girlfriend?
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5) “Moxie” – This story made me sad and at the same time made me angry at one of the characters. A marriage crumbles but not without one of them wanting to try and save it.
6) “A Dog Story” – A dog’s love is irreplaceable. Even when nothing is going right and your life is hell, love from your dog always makes things look brighter.
7) “I’d Rather Die Than Go to North Dakota” – I laughed when I saw the title of this short story. A few years ago, my husband spent the winter in North Dakota hauling brine water off the oil fields. Did I have the pleasure of going with him? No. Did he enjoy his time up there? Well, he enjoyed the money he made, but he didn’t enjoy the freezing-cold below-zero temperatures.
Ayako really doesn’t want to move to North Dakota with her husband. I’m not sure that I blame her, but would she really rather die than move there?
photo courtesy of Christopher Meeks
8) “The Benefits of Breathing” – This is a touching story, one that about made me cry. It’s about love in a family and how that love continues even after death.
9) “Incident on South Cecilia” – A bit of mystery is mixed with a bit of subtle horror. I loved it!
10) “Nestor by the Numbers” – This story is about the dating experiences of a man who thought he was too old to date. Watching him discover how dating has changed over the years made me so glad I’m done with all that.
11) “A Warm Front Appears to be Moving from California and Deep into Minnesota” – Summer is moving from California to Minnesota ahead of her boyfriend, but does he really plan on joining her?
I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. If you would like to purchase your own copy of The Benefits of Breathing, I’ve provided an Amazon link below.
public domain
Amazon Link: The Benefits of Breathing
Recommended Articles:
My Favorite Story Among the Eleven – Guest Post by Christopher Meeks
The Middle-Aged Man & the Sea – a Review
Favorite Sentences:
The steel doors of the hotel elevator opened with a whisper, like the wind rushing through the cracks of a marble mausoleum.
Should I not have married someone whose name woke up Amazon’s smart speaker?
In a cage meant for attack dogs stood a tiny terrier-esque dog who could have been bred at Chernobyl, brown wiry hair askew with a blond streak at his crown as if painted there by a pixie.
He couldn’t help but think of how this might make a perfect episode for Law and Order, with the opening scene of a man’s leg protruding from under a black bolt of seda.
Nestor felt that if he had a cake, he would want to leave it out in the rain.
In the years he’d been married, had people forgotten how to connect?
New Words Learned:
affogato – an Italian dessert of vanilla ice cream over which espresso has been poured
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death poem – The death poem is a genre of poetry that developed in the literary traditions of East Asian cultures—most prominently in Japan as well as certain periods of Chinese history and Joseon Korea. They tend to offer a reflection on death—both in general and concerning the imminent death of the author—that is often coupled with a meaningful observation on life.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_poem
filmic – of, relating to, or characteristic of motion pictures
insensate – lacking animate awareness or sensation
quotidian – ordinary, commonplace
seda – silk
tanka – a Japanese poem consisting of 31 syllables in 5 lines, with 5 syllables in the first and third lines and 7 in the others
About the Author:
Award winning author Christopher Meeks has had stories published in several literary journals, and he has two collections of stories, Months and Seasons and The Middle-Aged Man and the Sea. He also has a new short story collection coming soon.
His novel The Brightest Moon of the Century made the list of three book critics’ Ten Best Books of 2009. His novel Love at Absolute Zero, also made three Best Books lists of 2011, as well as earning a ForeWord Reviews Book of the Year Finalist award.
Chris’s two crime novels, Blood Drama and A Death in Vegas have earned much acclaim. He has had three full-length plays mounted, and one—Who Lives?—has been nominated for five Ovation Awards, Los Angeles’ top theatre prize. Mr. Meeks teaches English and fiction writing at Santa Monica College, and Children’s Literature at the Art Center College of Design. To read more of his books.
Mr. Meeks teaches English and fiction writing at Santa Monica College, and Children’s Literature at the Art Center College of Design.
I am so glad you enjoyed ‘The Benefits of Breathing’!