{"id":6040,"date":"2026-04-10T10:15:25","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T10:15:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=6040"},"modified":"2026-04-10T10:15:25","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T10:15:25","slug":"the-woman-in-the-third-floor-front-by-richard-scharine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=6040","title":{"rendered":"The Woman in the Third Floor Front by Richard Scharine"},"content":{"rendered":"

The moving melodies of family and marriage form the chorus of this poignant collection of short stories.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In The Woman In the Third Floor Front, <\/em>Richard Scharine assembles a dynamic arrangement of stories that examine childhood memories, love, and a little bit of noirish fun in between.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the titular opening, Jack is an adventure journalist whose marital indiscretion leads to a devastating car injury\u2026and a divorce. On a trip to save his job, a layover in a small town leads to a chance meeting with a hotel clerk and part-time singer, Constance, whose young son confuses Jack with his missing father. Secrets filled with pain and shame are shared, and a second chance at redemption plays out in the smoky haze of Elie\u2019s Bar & Grill.<\/p>\n

Scharine explores aspects of identity and the varieties of love in his stories, such as the touching \u201cStonewall Temple 1974,\u201d as Orson and Scott meet for a sexual assignation at a motel Orson remembers staying at as a boy. His Mormon background and role as a Church elder spurs a deeper conversation of Orson\u2019s double life, as well as Scott\u2019s experience of being a gay man in New York. Dialogue acts as a window into Orson\u2019s past and his carefully constructed rationalizations, while Scott educates Orson on his experiences during the Stonewall Riot of 1969. Scharine leaves the reader hoping for Orson\u2019s change of heart in self-acceptance.<\/p>\n

In between the heavier pieces, Scharine mixes in a bit of fun as in \u201cThe Web and the Noir\u201d where a gumshoe, Spade Marlowe, runs into a siren and a censor all in one scene. His prose is witty and captures the metaphor-rich world of 1950s noir: \u201cNo man raises a bet without first looking at the cards. At the same time, I knew she could cut my deck, and I\u2019d never see the Aces and Eights.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Broken up into sections, the collection moves into apparent autobiographical sketches in \u201cPast Lives,\u201d that includes a touching soliloquy on a brother and sister in \u201cMaria and Marta\u201d that dips into a young man\u2019s memories of his family\u2019s history in World War II through to the Cuban Missile Crisis and beyond.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In \u201cPlainview,\u201d Scharine crosses over into narrative nonfiction with his memories of his childhood school days in a one-room grade school in Wisconsin, replete with photos of the school, his teacher, and extended chums and cousins.<\/p>\n

Perhaps Scharine\u2019s most powerful story is \u201cThe Man I Used to Be\u201d that examines the artifacts of fatherhood in searing fashion. From memories of cradling his cold daughter until she falls asleep to being a father to an adopted Vietnamese boy, Scharine calls up the tsunami-like emotions of what the word \u201cDaddy\u201d represents to him and his children:<\/p>\n

\u201cEven the greatest gladiator must fall eventually. How many gods can look back and say that they made warmth out of the cold, and made monsters cower in fear with their presence?\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Scharine\u2019s stories are accessible and rich with hard-won insights into love, relationships (both winners and losers), music, and family. In The Woman in the Third Floor Front, <\/em>readers will find stories with a beating heart bursting with hope.<\/p>\n

The post The Woman in the Third Floor Front by Richard Scharine<\/a> appeared first on Independent Book Review<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The moving melodies of family and marriage form the chorus of this poignant collection of short stories. In The Woman In the Third Floor Front, Richard Scharine assembles a dynamic arrangement of stories that examine childhood memories, love, and a little bit of noirish fun in between.\u00a0 In the titular opening, Jack is an adventure […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bookreviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6040"}],"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=6040"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6040\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}