Book Review: If I Were the Ocean, I'd Carry You Home (OT) (short book of short stories)

If I Were the Ocean, I'd Carry You Home, by Peter Hsu (Red Hen Press, 2022, $14.95 paperback, 178 pp)

A refreshing book, I thought - a collection of short stories that this reviewer started from the beginning rather than picking and choosing which story to read next, based on the title. The titles are intriguing and the tone of several stories is not exactly threatening or scary but placed me back in my childhood as I reminisced the feelings and thoughts I once had.

Author Peter Hsu captures the essence of childhood, be it a little girl or little boy, precisely: the actions, the thoughts, the minds wandering here and there, wondering what it's like to be all grown up.

Part of "Pluto," the first of a dozen, in which a boy runs around a track with his dad - a track with nine lanes so they can get in 2 1/4 miles and after each lap, the boy says "Lane one, Mercury," then "Lane two, Venus," and on down the list of planets until he talks about his science project -  Pluto.

And then there is "From the Brush, A Frantic Rustling" about a little girl and a man who lets her shoot his rifle. She outshoots him (rather unlikely, says this former Army soldier) by a long shot until the end - which doesn't end as I had imagined.

All in all, another look at your childhood with the sights, smells, and thoughts you remember, as well as incredibly unique comparisons, like the pro basketball games.