![]() The stories buzz with the modern background noise of Pitt's characters may be isolated, but their worlds are notĮspecially quiet. Rays." All attention, even negative attention, can carry love. Offered them was a beam of recognition, and they soaked in the Asīuddy says about his announcements, "I always worried I'dĬrossed a line, but the players ate up the attention. Insults the whole team and enjoys a late-career popularity boost. The plate, which oddly reinvigorates the old star. Buddy takes to ridiculing Steve when introducing him at Sprissel, a once-great player, now consigned to the minors through In the title story, Buddy, an alcoholic at the end of his career asĪ pa announcer for minor league baseball games, finds kinship in Steve To get noticed in a busy world, just like us. After all, these characters are simply struggling Memorable personalities, and a sharp ear for dialogue, but the humor Some button with his butt warning the governor." Pitt injectsĬomedy into his fiction with wry observations, absurd situations, ![]() Teachers talking contract negotiations, the superintendent would press Other times, the humor is quieter: at aįaculty luncheon "Shales imagined that, at the first sign of Meaningful to say to dying Shales, only to accidentally wash away their Mean," the strung-out druggies try to come up with something It carries usĪcross the pain inherent in such lonely, isolated lives. This humor gives buoyancy to Pitt's collection. We can't quite decide whether to weep for Photographing remote, vacant properties, while his new marriageĪtrophies back home. A dog kennel owner acciden tallyĪsphyxiates dozens of her charges. Mainstream, the pinging cogs of society, until ironic and, often, tragicĮvents drive them to isolation. Like Shales, Pitt's other characters are part of the Gave them updates on his treatment the others stood and smoked and shot "The Tuesday episodes were feeling less likeĭrug transactions and more like holiday reunions with family. What starts as a need for medical marijuana becomes his last grasp forĪttention and love. Seeks pain-relief from a group of drug-addicted high school drop-outs. Severs the few human connections he has in the mainstream world. "The Mean," is dying from breast cancer, and his physical pain They desperately need have it arrive from the most unlikely sources.Ĭase in point: Charles Shales, a high school math teacher in ![]() Moments in which people who have been unable to demand the attention Matthew Pitt's first collection, Attention Please Now, capture Repressing and ignoring? The eleven humorous and poignant stories in Our parents' advice to wait our turn, to keep quiet, to not drawĪttention to ourselves. Somewhere along the line to maturity, though, most of us finally heed ![]() Listen! or Look! Not that we adults respond. School-aged child anywhere has been subjected to incessant demands to MLA style: "Attention Please Now." The Free Library. ![]()
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