{"id":3172,"date":"2025-06-06T12:13:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-06T12:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=3172"},"modified":"2025-06-06T12:13:00","modified_gmt":"2025-06-06T12:13:00","slug":"book-review-capers-and-switcheroos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=3172","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: Capers and Switcheroos"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Capers and Switcheroos<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

by Chip Cater<\/p>\n

Genre:<\/strong> Short Story Collection<\/p>\n

ISBN: <\/strong>9798891326552<\/p>\n

Print Length:<\/strong> 98 pages<\/p>\n

Publisher:<\/strong> Atmosphere Press<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Reviewed by Eric Mayrhofer<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong>Chip Cater\u2019s short stories shine with compassion, wisdom, wit, and warmth<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Memories don\u2019t play out like feature-length movies. They happen in flashes, fits, and starts. Sometimes a memory can bubble up to the surface of your mind with a very clear point, and sometimes they ramble or roll by for no other reason than to remind you of something pleasantly familiar.<\/p>\n

Those are characteristics that Chip Cater\u2019s collection Capers and Switcheroos<\/em> embodies beautifully. Transforming his memories into short stories, he lets readers into his mind and gives them the joy of experiencing his admiration and love, his childhood mischief, and the quiet humility that comes with age.<\/p>\n

And it truly does feel like each story is a little door into Cater\u2019s mind. That\u2019s partly due to flourishes like the quick, easy nicknames that pepper his writing. When recalling his wedding in \u201cBlue Velvet,\u201d the opening story, he says, \u201cWe were married in the Congregational Church, which stands on the hill over the tiny string of stores and restaurants in Wellfleet. The Congo\u2019s tall steeple towers over the town and is what you aim for when sailing back in from the outer reaches of Wellfleet harbor.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Those small but irreverent choices, nestled in an otherwise matter-of-fact tone, help readers see that Cater doesn\u2019t take life too seriously, even as he regards it with a sharp eye respectfully studying everything it lands on.<\/p>\n

That matter-of-fact voice could also be called openness\u2014even earnestness. In the same story, Cater\u2019s wife winds up having to change into a borrowed dress, a dazzling blue number with sparkling stones. The incident is briefly the talk of the restaurant, and when Cater and his wife leave, \u201ctwelve to fifteen \u2018fans,\u2019 who had watched the drama unfold, rushed up\u2026They wanted Mary\u2019s autograph. After the scenes in the bar and dining room and the changes of costume, they were positive she was a celebrity. She still is.\u201d Then later, in the story \u201cSomething Noticed,\u201d he and Mary find themselves in Vietnam and notice there are no birds; the Vietnamese ate them into scarcity due to food shortages that began in the Vietnam War. Upon returning home, Cater reflects, \u201cWe have hundreds of beautiful birds, many of whom sing\u2026it is our palette and our symphony.\u201d<\/p>\n

In just a few words, Cater reveals so much: his bounding love for his wife Mary. The couple\u2019s quiet awareness of all their blessings, humble in the knowledge that so many have far less.<\/p>\n

There are one or two stories that err on the rambling, rolling side of memory. \u201cSaved by the Belle,\u201d for example, may luxuriate a little too long in the technological details of early digital publishing for some. Even then, however, readers glimpse our narrator\u2019s open-hearted kindness as he remembers a workplace rival. \u201cDan left and went to our largest competitor,\u201d Cater writes. \u201cHe did well and we stayed in touch over the years\u2026we had a shared interest.\u201d Even in adversity, obstacles never become permanent barriers to good relationships, politeness, or decency.<\/p>\n

Caper and Switcheroos<\/em> is a quietly moving piece, a comforting blanket of a short story collection.<\/p>\n

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Thank you for reading Eric Mayrhofer\u2019s book review of Capers and Switcheroos<\/em> by Chip Cater! If you liked what you read, please spend some more time with us at the links below.<\/p>\n

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The post Book Review: Capers and Switcheroos<\/a> appeared first on Independent Book Review<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Capers and Switcheroos by Chip Cater Genre: Short Story Collection ISBN: 9798891326552 Print Length: 98 pages Publisher: Atmosphere Press Amazon Bookshop Reviewed by Eric Mayrhofer Chip Cater\u2019s short stories shine with compassion, wisdom, wit, and warmth Memories don\u2019t play out like feature-length movies. They happen in flashes, fits, and starts. Sometimes a memory can bubble […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":3173,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bookreviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3172"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3172\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}