PACIFIC BOOK REVIEW

by Gary Sorkin

One dozen short stories comprise this book, a bouquet of life’s little tales.  Each story, like a rose, pretty in and of itself, but much more breathtaking when placed together in a vase.  Thelma T. Reyna draws from her life’s experiences and decades of writing, creating a masterpiece collection in The Heavens Weep for Us and Other Stories.  Stories of ordinary people facing life’s challenges, each with its own flavor. The book has a baleful look, foreshadowing tragic rumblings of discontent to her unpretentious characters.  

Her characters are dusty, simple, and real.  People referred to as the “Salt of the earth.”  They are hard working, rather uneducated, yet all have their own “people smarts.”  Life hits them hard as they feel the heat when in the sun and they get chilled when out in the wind.  They are a part of the environment, not sheltered by the layers of metal and chrome money can buy, not gilded by the adornments of fashionable items sold in stores, not thinking of what they want but rather what they need. They are the kind of folks that dry their clothes outdoors on a line. 

In one story entitled Faithless, Reyna’s character says, “My name is Santa Fe Santana.  If you really want an English translation, it’s Holy Faith Saint Ann.  That’s me. I’m not Sandy.  I’m not a Santa.  I’m Faith.”  This one excerpt resonated in my mind the core of her character’s straightforward talk.

Thelma T. Reyna has created glimpses into lives quite unlike those of her readers.  She simplifies her narration as her characters simplify their way of existing.  As life is harsh, so is the impact of these memorable stories.  Some of which are on the fence of being literary poetry, others dark and thunderous, but individually unique.  Again, like the roses in a bouquet each loosing peddles at its own time, each story lives in the reader’s mind afterwards on its own.

Her cover art draws you to the ominous Cumulonimbus stormclouds, with a ripple effect of a water droplet, or possibly a tear drop from heaven.  This montage indicates to me, in my opinion; we are all connected to one another, and what we do in life has an effect on others.  There’s a storm-a-coming, take shelter, take heart; The Heavens Weep for Us.

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