"Mr. Tall: A Novella and Stories" by Tony Earley ****

• Early Reviewer edition for LibraryThing.com
• Novella and short stories
• Originally published August 2014
• Epigraph:  "What luck did ye have this time, Jack?"  "Why, King, I didn't see no unicorn." - Richard Chase, "The Jack Tales"
• No page numbers
• "Haunted Castles of the Barrier Islands":  First night empty nesters
• p.17..."Find me a Hardee's.  Find me a room.  Stay with me until I die.  It was all the same thing, really."
• p.30...."Well, since you're so damn curious, let me tell you the secret to a long marriage.  If you want to stay together; then don't leave."
• p.35..."It was the only way he knew to make a life, the transfigurative ordering of event into story, something he could not do without Cheryl."
• "Mr. Tall":  Misunderstanding leads to lonely isolation for two people in the mountains
• p.41..."She felt as if she had been granted admission into some benevolent, secret society to which almost everyone belonged but of which hardly anyone ever spoke."...marriage
• "The Cryptozoologist":  chasing the mysterious skunk ape, and an understanding of her late spouse
• "Yard Art";  All lives have value, whether famous or not....art is beautiful to whomever sees the beauty
• "Have You Seen the Stolen Girl?":  Lonely old woman, isolation, misunderstanding
• "Just Married":  Three couples who remain faithful during difficult times find themselves crossing paths at a pivotal moment
• "Jack and the Mad Dog":  What happens to characters when a story ends?
• Review:  First night empty nesters, the misunderstood Mr. Tall, the widow of her misunderstood artist husband, Jack of the beanstalk and what happens when we close a book.  Are you interested yet?  I absolutely loved "Jim The Boy", and Tony Earley once again demonstrates his wonderful storytelling skill in this wonderful collection.  Each story is a metaphor about life.  Sounds trite, I know, but in this case not so!!