I received a new collection of short stories last week titles The Maladjusted by Derek Hayes.  Derek Hayes is a Canadian writer and the collection has received very positive reviews, so I couldn’t pass it up.


This is my review of the title story, The Maladjusted.

Mike lives in a small apartment by himself.  He has a mental illness and doesn’t get out a lot.  For about the first 15 days of every month he gets pizza from the vender below his apartment.  He lowers a basket with money in it, with a rope and when he pulls it back up the pizza is in it.


He doesn’t like to leave his apartment because he feels anxious when he does but he does go to the grocery store on occasion.  He always tells the cashier that he has a mental illness.  The reply is always, “I’m sorry.”

Sometime he plays chess with Kim, his social worker when she comes to check on him.  She really wants to get him out in the community and have a more active life. She comes up with the idea to bring him to a local chess club with the end goal of Mike playing chess with someone there.  They work it out in steps. 


“First step: Kim and I go to the local chess club by bus, look at the entrance, then return.”

As Mike gets less anxious with a step, they move on to the next.  Does he succeed? 


This is a well written story with a bit of humor.  As a social worker in mental health, it is a familiar one to me.  It brought back memories of some of the people I have worked with over the years and the steps they took toward recovery.  Some partial success, some full successes and some not at all.  However, the motto is never give up, try to create different steps and smaller steps, towards the end goal.  Great story!

Short Story Monday is hosted by John at The Book Mine Set.
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