The Terrible Event

 The Terrible Event

Reviewed By  Janet Mawdesley       August 11, 2023

 

Author  David Cohen

Distributor:      Transit Lounge
ISBN:                 978-0-6455653-3-1
Publisher:         Transit Lounge
Release Date:   June 2023  

   Website:   https://transitlounge.com.au

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David Cohen has returned for 2023 with a series of his fascinating essays based this time on Terrible Events; those events that somehow happen in life for one reason or another, many reasons often never, ever come to light.

His clear and concise style of writing moves the story along without sacrificing the clarity of the scenario he is creating. Each of the stories has a wry sense of humour, or maybe acceptance of the frailty of humanity, entwined; each one gently bringing into focus many elements of mental health.

Everyday issues small and insignificant make up the body of the work, each one detailed in a careful, precise style. A typing mistake leads to an unexpected conclusion in The Terrible Event; A Memorial.

Mr Cheerio is sad and dramatic, highlighting the conflict of the emotions, the inability to accept the results of a terrible event perpetrated, the focus on self.

Each hole punched in a piece of paper represents a careless workplace, a pointless exercise in filling in a day, never really understanding who he works for or what he is supposed to be doing, is significantly detailed in The Holes.

Eight stories make up a canvas of dark, intriguing, fascinating and detailed humanity concluding with The Enigma of Keith; Another Memorial beginning with a ‘what if’ moment, resulting in some very unexpected consequences.

Cohen’s words shine a clear light on the issues of mental health which effect so many through the rich, dramatic, sad, powerful and tragic words of The Terrible Event.

Fiction