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MWSA Review
The Blue Collar Blues and Other Stories by Bob Stockton is a collection of short stories and essays, mostly biographical, that start with Bob’s early childhood in Trenton, New Jersey, and cover his years in the Navy, traipsing around the globe as well as from shore to shore in America. Those who lived through the fifties and sixties will find much in common with Bob. Those who are younger will get an education on how it really was back then. And those who served in the Navy will likely find common ground with the author, since most of the book is about his time in the Navy.
Most of Stockton’s stories are humorous, some with a little more bite than others. Some of the stories are, well, almost unbelievable. And all of the stories are populated with memorable characters, filled with fascinating detail and vivid word pictures. My favorite line in the whole book is, “Max’s ‘moral fiber’ was thinner than dental floss.” In many stories, the author draws the reader in and leads him along, lulling him into a pleasant state only to surprise him by delivering an abrupt sucker-punch ending to the vignette. Stockton has an engaging and folksy storytelling quality that is endearing enough to allow readers to ignore missing commas, quote marks, and the occasional wandering-bunny-trail sentence.
Review by Betsy Beard (February 2021)
Author's Synopsis
A shipwreck’s tragic toll in human life. The changing face of a quiet turn-of-the century neighborhood. A man who lost his wife unexpectedly. An obnoxious drunk who gets more than he bargained for. A horse who develops an affinity for a Hawaiian saloon. A submarine’s up close and personal encounter with a snoozing whale. Each of these stories and much more are found in The Blue Collar Blues and Other Stories, author Bob Stockton’s personal anthology of forty-six short stories that have been published over the past decade.
The book’s first section contains stories of a young boy’s coming of age in an ever-changing northeast working-class neighborhood. The second section highlights standalone stories that run from autobiographical to allegorical. The third section focuses on the adventures-and misadventures- of young sailors serving in the U.S. Navy of a half-century past. The fourth section relates actual tales of the U.S. Navy and her sailors deployed along the Pacific Rim.
Grab a cup of coffee and escape into the mind of an author with a flair for describing what is really important in life.
ISBN/ASIN: 9781662902895, B08F6663GC
Book Format(s): Soft cover, Kindle
Review Genre: Collections—Anthology
Number of Pages: 414