Blog Tour: The Sense of Touch by Ron Parsons (review)

The Sense of Touch
written by Ron Parsons
published by Aqueous Books

find it here: (affiliate links) Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Book Depository, Goodreads

Why did I pick this book: I participated in the blog tour hosted by TLC Book Tours. (I received a copy of this book for review purposes.)

Did I enjoy this book: I did.

The Sense of Touch is a collection of short stories. And it’s unlike anything I’ve read before – ever. It’s beautifully written. Mr. Parsons’ writing style alone could make just about any story interesting.

Each story is unpredictable, unbelievable, and confusing. And somehow, he makes them all thoroughly entertaining. I got to the end of each story and thought, “huh?” But immediately went on to the next story wondering how he was going to top the last one.

I’m pretty sure Mr. Parsons breaks just about every rule of creative writing and actually manages to pull it off. I’m not sure if he’s a brilliant cutting edge artistic force in literature or just some really weird guy who’s managed to capture my imagination. But I know I’ll be on the look-out for his next book just to see where he’s going next.

Would I recommend it: Yes.

Will I read it again: Probably not.

About the book – from Goodreads: Sprung from the variously lush, rugged, and frozen emotional landscapes of the north country, this luminous collection of stories captures the progress of a diverse ensemble of souls as they struggle to uncover themselves and negotiate a meaningful communion, of any kind, with the world around them. A brilliant but troubled Bangladeshi physics student searches for balance, acceptance, and his own extraordinary destiny after his father disappears. When a Halloween blizzard immobilizes Minneapolis, a young woman is forced to confront the snow-bound nature of her own relationships and emotions. During an excursion to an idyllic swimming hole hidden in the Black Hills, two old friends unexpectedly compete for the affections of an irresistible, though married, Lakota woman. Like a mythical expedition to reach the horizon or the quest to distill truth from the beauty around us, the revelation confirmed by these imaginative stories – elegant, sometimes jarring, always wonderfully absurd – is that the very act of reaching is itself a form of touch.

About the author: Ron Parsons is a writer living in Sioux Falls. Born in Michigan and raised in South Dakota, he was inspired to begin writing fiction in Minneapolis while attending the University of Minnesota. His short stories have appeared in literary magazines and venues such as The Gettysburg Review, Indiana Review, The Briar Cliff Review, Flyway, Storyville, and The Onion.

The Sense of Touch, his debut collection of stories, was released by Aqueous Books in 2013.

Find Mr. Parsons here: web, Facebook, Goodreads