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Donna Baier Stein’s writings appear in Virginia Quarterly Review, Prairie Schooner, Puerto del Sol, Washingtonian, and many other journals and anthologies. Her story collection Great Drawing Board of the Sky was a Finalist in the Iowa Fiction Awards and was published in December 2013 as Sympathetic People; her novel Fortune received the PEN/New England Discovery Award. She was a Founding Poetry Editor of Bellevue Literary Review and currently publishes Tiferet: A Journal of Spiritual Literature. Awards include a scholarship from Bread Loaf, fellowships from Johns Hopkins University and the New Jersey Council for the Arts, awards from the Poetry Societies of Virginia and New Hampshire, an Honorable Mention from the Allen E. Ginsberg Poetry Prizes, four Pushcart nominations and prizes from Kansas Quarterly, Florida Review, and elsewhere. In 2012 she received a scholarship from the Summer Literary Seminars and her poetry chapbook Sometimes You Sense the Difference was published by Finishing Line Press. www.donnabaierstein.com
Reviewed by Melinda Hills for Readers' Favorite
Socrates said, ‘The unexamined life is not worth living.' Starting from that premise, Donna Baier Stein creates characters who are questioning who they are and how they really fit into the world and families around them in her thought provoking anthology, Sympathetic People. Examining feelings about fidelity, self-worth, and the ability to make intelligent choices, these characters share their weaknesses and vulnerability in a way that lets us reflect on our own relationships, thought processes, and secrets. We are able to wonder about choices that have been made and options that may have been better while we consider the importance of our connections to the significant people in our lives. If we are to assume that life is to be shared and love is the primary goal, the question is how to achieve that objective. In spite of unsatisfying relationships and unexpected outcomes, there is hope that change is possible with the realization that things can be different if we just open up our minds and hearts.
Sympathetic People unashamedly explores the journeys of a variety of characters as they contemplate their path through life. With feeling and insight, Donna Baier Stein offers an intimate look into the minds of these characters as they examine where they are in their lives and relationships. It is easy to relate to the questions and longings reflected in these 14 stories, and share in the sense of disappointment and resignation experienced by some of the characters as they come to terms with where they stand at this point in their lives.
