Book Review: Wanderers, by Edward Belfar

Edward Belfar's collection of short stories, Wanderers, focuses on just that--people (particularly men) who are wandering, at a loss. At times, this wandering is literal, as in the case of the title story, in which an aging law professor forgets his way home when shopping for milk and spends 7.5 hours wandering through Baltimore. In other stories, characters wander from their intended course; in "Roman Honeymoon," a new groom wanders into a night club without his new bride, and in "Leaving the Chesapeake," a divorced man finds himself estranged from his daughters, broke, and hungry--a long way from his work towards a PhD earlier in life.

While the stories here can be uneven and the treatment of women flat, Belfar's finest writing captures the sense of loss, anger, and urgency that can descend upon a man who has lost his way. In "Errors," he captures the story of a baseball player forever dogged by his one career mistake, down on his luck and run out by those who once supported him. In "Eviction," a doctor struggles to do the right thing in the face of an angry wife and a patient intent on taking advantage of his psychiatric services while groping for something, anything, to anchor him once again.

Wanderers is not what one might describe as an uplifting book, with each story dropping us in the middle of a seemingly desperate, sorry situation, but it does succeed in highlighting the battles we all must fight: running from our past mistakes, struggling to make the right decision, or learning to ask for help when it is most needed.

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Giveaway: Thanks to TLC Book Tours, I have one copy of Wanderers to offer up to readers. Simply leave a comment to enter. +1 for followers. I will select a winner on Thursday, January 24th.

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Note: Thanks to TLC Book Tours for a copy of this title to review.
Wanderers | Edward Belfar | Stephen F. Austin University Press | Paperback | May 2012 | 272 pages | Buy from an independent bookstore near you