Aftermath

Aftermath by Scott Nadelson is a haunting collection of short stories. Nadelson, a proud Oregon State grad, covered familiar ground in each story. All of them had a sense of lapsed Judaism, a romantic relationship ending, and a vague threat of physical danger. They all took place in New Jersey. Most explored a post-college ennui. Reading Aftermath felt repetitive, then, as though the collection were a dreamlike record caught in the same loop. This was not unwelcome, though. While the themes and motifs (and setting, and characters) were often similar throughout these stories, the writing was alive and poetic, and unexpected events kept the stories from being formulaic. The protagonists often made bad decisions, and the dread of watching them unfold was both jarring and unsettling. Often, collections of short stories aim for more varied styles and themes, with wide ranges of quality. Aftermath is a strong collection by a writer that knows what he wants to write about, and each story was written with the same high standard.