Rating: 
Summary: Rest Area
Review: A man waits endlessly for his daughter to return from the bathroom at a rest stop. He asks all passersby if they have seen her. You'll never guess where she is....Two deaf teenagers find a way to "hear" one another on a bus full of other deaf children... A search party tracks through the woods looking for a missing teenage girl. Will they find her?.... A family on a campout gets more than they bargain for when they meet up with a Bear Scout.... A mother searches for her son's body in a field of post-war corpses.... Mary Brown's fisherman husband was lost at sea....or was he?.... These are just a few examples of the twenty short stories included in Rest Area by Clay McLeod Chapman. This book has a unique aspect...each story is the monologue of only one person. The reader only gets an idea of what the responses of others involved (if there are any) may be through what the main character says. Also, there isn't necessarily a plot present. They are more like the narration of moments in time. The tales range from compassionate to eerie, shocking and just plain odd. It's a collection straight from the author's imagination. This book requires a lot of concentration in parts, or the reader won't "get it." At times it's like trying to sift through a Chinese riddle to find the words that will explain the meaning. Imagine listening to someone talking on the telephone, only one side of the conversation is audible. Sometimes it's easy to understand what the point of the discussion is, and sometimes it's virtually impossible. One thing can definitely be said....reading this book is an experience like no other.
Rating:
Summary: Rest Area
Review: A man waits endlessly for his daughter to return from the bathroom at a rest stop. He asks all passersby if they have seen her. You'll never guess where she is.... Two deaf teenagers find a way to "hear" one another on a bus full of other deaf children... A search party tracks through the woods looking for a missing teenage girl. Will they find her?.... A family on a campout gets more than they bargain for when they meet up with a Bear Scout.... A mother searches for her son's body in a field of post-war corpses.... Mary Brown's fisherman husband was lost at sea....or was he?.... These are just a few examples of the twenty short stories included in Rest Area by Clay McLeod Chapman. This book has a unique aspect...each story is the monologue of only one person. The reader only gets an idea of what the responses of others involved (if there are any) may be through what the main character says. Also, there isn't necessarily a plot present. They are more like the narration of moments in time. The tales range from compassionate to eerie, shocking and just plain odd. It's a collection straight from the author's imagination. This book requires a lot of concentration in parts, or the reader won't "get it." At times it's like trying to sift through a Chinese riddle to find the words that will explain the meaning. Imagine listening to someone talking on the telephone, only one side of the conversation is audible. Sometimes it's easy to understand what the point of the discussion is, and sometimes it's virtually impossible. One thing can definitely be said....reading this book is an experience like no other.
Rating: 
Summary: NOT JUST BAD, SMELLY.
Review: A stunningly bad debut. These tales fall somewhere between short stories and rambling cracker monologues. Painfully obvious in their need to "SHOCK" and be "EDGY" they amount to little more than the work of a beat poet with tourettes. Self-consciously strange without being believable or even interesting I was left only with the conclusion: Hillbillies are impressively capable of buggery and squirrel hunting but the demands of character, setting and plot are way beyond this writer's gifts.
Perhaps this stuff passes for "daring" in the provinces but anyone who's taken Lit 101 will recognize this for what it is: hackwork.
Rating:
Summary: NOT JUST BAD, SMELLY.
Review: A stunningly bad debut. These tales fall somewhere between short stories and rambling cracker monologues. Painfully obvious in their need to "SHOCK" and be "EDGY" they amount to little more than the work of a beat poet with tourettes. Self-consciously strange without being believable or even interesting I was left only with the conclusion: Hillbillies are impressively capable of buggery and squirrel hunting but the demands of character, setting and plot are way beyond this writer's gifts.
Perhaps this stuff passes for "daring" in the provinces but anyone who's taken Lit 101 will recognize this for what it is: hackwork.
Rating: 
Summary: The caviar of the sick and twisted short story genre
Review: Clay has such an active imagination, and his use of language and imagery is truly masterful. There is no other in my opinion who can create metaphors as palpable and alive as this young gentleman. That being said, as much as I love to slowly drink from the elegant cup of this man's mind, the only way to get a true Clay Chapman experience is in person. Please, if you live in the Tri-State area, I urge you to attend one of his shows. You will never see anything like it again.
Rating:
Summary: The caviar of the sick and twisted short story genre
Review: Clay has such an active imagination, and his use of language and imagery is truly masterful. There is no other in my opinion who can create metaphors as palpable and alive as this young gentleman. That being said, as much as I love to slowly drink from the elegant cup of this man's mind, the only way to get a true Clay Chapman experience is in person. Please, if you live in the Tri-State area, I urge you to attend one of his shows. You will never see anything like it again.
Rating:
Summary: Short, but powerful
Review: Clay McLeod Chapman has transferred his passion for dialogue very nicely into this attractive and important short fiction collection. Coming froma drama background, Chapman is an expert at writing monologues. Rest Area is an expansion of some of his favourites. These stories are funny and rich; sad and dark. Chapman's evocative style presents his subjects not in a flattering light, but in the light that they are destined to have shone upon them. Like the characters in his plays, these people are flawed and real. From an avid reader of short fiction, Rest Area is definitely worth picking up. The stories are very smart without falling into the esoteric category that kills so many other collections. A perfect balance of themes and characters ensures that the reader is captivated from first to last pages. The stories are jewels: short and concise; not a wasted word. An excellent debut for a promising young writer.
Rating:
Summary: Short, but powerful
Review: Clay McLeod Chapman has transferred his passion for dialogue very nicely into this attractive and important short fiction collection. Coming froma drama background, Chapman is an expert at writing monologues. Rest Area is an expansion of some of his favourites. These stories are funny and rich; sad and dark. Chapman's evocative style presents his subjects not in a flattering light, but in the light that they are destined to have shone upon them. Like the characters in his plays, these people are flawed and real. From an avid reader of short fiction, Rest Area is definitely worth picking up. The stories are very smart without falling into the esoteric category that kills so many other collections. A perfect balance of themes and characters ensures that the reader is captivated from first to last pages. The stories are jewels: short and concise; not a wasted word. An excellent debut for a promising young writer.
Rating:
Summary: Creative, exciting and intense
Review: Great work...I've seen Clay's plays in NY and am touched by the marriage of creativity, humor and other emotions. A strong recommendation for a discerning reader.
Rating: 
Summary: Rest Area
Review: I feel without reservation the Clay McLeod Chapman is a talented, skillful, imaginative writer. This collection of short stories can make provacative reading in small portions to digest between readings.I have seen some of Chapman's PUMPKIN PIE SHOWS wherein he and other actors narrate his tales injecting some humor and all the required intonations of a drama.Remarkable watching which is mirrored in the Rest Area reading.This authors first novel I find to be a valid measure of his continuing progress as an author. Having just completed an Advance Reader's Copy of Miss Corpus I think Chapman's growth is quite apparent in this moving, macabre and painfully detailed story of death and dispair. Two totally different love stories that come
crashing together. I digress
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