The Maladjusted by Derek Hayes

Teddyrose@1

13 years ago

In his collection of short stories, Hayes writes about quirky and maladjusted characters. Many, if not all of the main characters have a mental illness and some seem to manage day to day better than others. Hayes used wit and everyday settings to draw the reader in.

In some of the stories the characters just seem a bit on the quirky side, like Adam in the first story, A Feel For America. Adam is the head of the teachers in an ESL school in Taiwan. The teachers room together in an apartment and let just say, life gets interesting there.

I reviewed the title story, The Maladjusted, here. In this story it is apparent right away that Mike has a mental illness. If fact, he tells just about everyone he meets. The difference about him and the character in the other stories is that he has a support network. Most of the other characters don’t seem to know they are having problems that are different from the average person or maybe they aren’t so different. There are many people who go through life with some sort of mental illness who don’t know it and don’t get treated.

I really enjoyed this collection of short stories by Canadian author Derek Hayes. I loved the quirky characters. Some of the stories made me cringe a bit but as a social worker in mental health I have seen my fair share of people who seem maladjusted. We all have our quirks though, every one of us.

4.5/5

I received this book for my honest opinion from Derek Hayes.

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