Short Story Library

Robert Levin has three things going for him. One, he is extremely intelligent. Two, he has complete control of the English language and makes the most of it. Three, has an unusual sense of humor. The combination is effective and the result of it is the collection of short stories and essays entitled, “When Pacino’s Hot, I’m Hot” published by The Drill Press – http://thedrillpress.com.

The collection is broken into two parts, the first covering short stories; the second covers rants on various social topics that bug Mr. Levin.

I am torn on the first piece, the short collection. While each story, I believe, if read at various times in a span of a few weeks would stand out to be the best thing you read that day, as a collection they lose their effectiveness. Each piece rarely escapes a box which only include first person point of view, limited (if any) dialogue, limited action, always some sexual joke or reference if not the entire point of the story, mixture of intelligent humor and witty story telling. If I had read them here and there, I think these stories would have stood out to me more than they did reading them in one sitting. As they are quick reads and the entire short story section only reaches roughly fifty pages, one sitting is really all that was called for and so at the end, the stories blurred together. They lacked range, which in a collection, made it more evident.

The second section of the book covers social rants and observations. Now Robert Levin is a great writer. More importantly he is an intelligent writer. The combination is quite effective and his essays are interesting however they lack follow through or any information except for his final essay on Jazz. He points out things that bug him (much like a Seinfeld episode) but does not offer solutions to issues, not information supporting his point of view but simply note that perhaps the service industry is subpar, insurance companies are frauds and that the Middle East has problems. Not ground breaking material but interesting nonetheless. Again, the collection is weaker then the standalone article if you had read it in a magazine or newspaper.

On a whole it is a quick read and if you are in need of some reading material for little windows of time, I would suggest picking up a copy of “When Pacino’s Hot, I’m Hot” and reading it here and there to get the most out of it. Each piece is enjoyable and you will find it hard not to laugh at many of the stories (especially “Spinning the Wheel of the Quivering Meat Conception”)!

If interested, pick up a copy and tell me what you think! The book is available on the publisher’s website at: http://www.thedrillpress.com/cat/fiction/cat-fiction-pacino-rlevin.shtml