The Exit Coach
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
How do we find the courage to change? In The Exit Coach, a collection of six stories and a novella, the characters arrive at an impasse that requires them to step out of the wreckage of their habituated lives. It is the entrance of an unexpected voice—a visitor from France, a retired talent scout, an invisible friend, a midnight phone call, or even a wild animal—that disrupts their patterns of behavior and illuminates the possibilities they’ve been blind to, pointing the way to an exit they’ve dreamt of, but lacked the courage to enter.
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Staffel's engaging and memorable collection (The Notebook of Lost Things) is linked through reoccurring characters, settings, and themes. The protagonists experience deeply personal transformations and struggle to reconcile their various personas and shifting identities. "Tertium Quid" follows Meredith and Gregory, a couple both over the age of 60. The story centers on how aging affects their marriage, and their fading desire for intimacy. In "Mocked and Invaded," Meredith's search for a noisy mockingbird leads her to reflect on how she embodies the many different roles and occupations she has held in her lifetime. In the title novella, Marilyn Prett, a recent high school graduate in New York City, searches for a chance to reinvent herself. She adopts a new name, Ava, and accepts a job assisting an elderly widower and retired talent scout, Harvey Abram. Ava meets Harvey's son, Ruben, who recruits her to join an off-Broadway production as a dancer. Ava discovers her natural talent as a performer and begins to embrace her sexuality. As Ava's world widens and her experience grows, she must choose between two very different paths. The conflicts in this collection are mostly internal as protagonists move among relationships, places, and positions. Staffel's prose is graceful each sentence flows nimbly into the next with poetic but concise exposition. The book's greatest strength is its dialogue. The voices Staffel employs are distinct and authentic, and she gives her characters room to delve into compelling discussions with interesting revelations that help push the narratives forward.
