This is a story of a regular guy, a common woman, vows made, promises broken, and a dream shattered. It tells of an all too frequent tragedy of life.
Size: 12 KB (2,269 words)
Genre: Fiction
Sex Contents: No Sex
Tags: Ma/Fa
Review by aliasx [other reviews by aliasx]
Reviewed:
Many people skip reading blogs, but I think the warning Arthur placed within his Blog is well placed, so I will repeat it here. Arthur offers what he calls "A different kind of storytelling." It is different from most other SOL offerings in that readers are more likely to lose an erection than gain one when reading Arthur's work.
That being said, Arthur's stories are very enjoyable (albeit depressing). A possible exception is Last Blind Date, which is an excellent story that will probably disturb you.
In Bitter Regrets, the protagonist is a rather ordinary guy. He is somewhat happily married and leads a so-so life. A good chunk of the text within the story is spent providing a rather matter of fact explanation of how very ordinary the main character is. Even his fantasy (and his wife's failure to take it seriously) is rather ordinary (a threesome). Unlike most authors who build up their stories towards one or more climactic events, Bitter Regrets feels somewhat flat. This is true of all of Arthur's work, though Just Desserts and Last Man Standing have sufficient tension as to substitute for having some form of build up. Even the climactic event itself is delivered in the same matter of fact manner as the rest of the story.
This writing style is counter to conventional writing wisdom, but that does not mean it fails to work. On the contrary, the resulting stories are definitely worth reading, and I enjoyed all of them (though Last Blind Date is harsh and belongs next to the stories about kicking puppies). The style is fundamentally different from that of other authors, but works surprisingly well.
Bitter Regrets is definitely bitter, and those with a sufficiently screwed up sense of humor (probably only me) might even manage a short laugh at the story as a whole. However, most will not, and I cannot imagine it was intended to be so.
If you are looking for something different, give Bitter Regrets a try. Something about this story and the style used to present it just really worked for me, though I will point out that Just Desserts has more mass appeal, and might make a better first read from this author.
Regardless, all of Arthur's stories are told with roughly the same style and skill, so those who like his style will probably enjoy all of his stories, unless they dislike the plot.
I think people should definitely give this author a try! He's different, which makes him worth taking note of. And he's a great writer, which makes his stories entertaining to read.
