Jason Rodriguez is an amateur deltiologist (he collects postcards.) Taking from his personal collection, he assigned some of his peers to create stories that might be true but aren't necessarily.
Some of the stories are based solely on the image on the front of the postcard. Some epics involved only the shorts messages scribed on the back and a couple is a combination of both front image locale and on-the-back greeting.
Accepting Rodrigeuz's challenge include Michael Gaydos, Stuart Moore, Phillip Hester, and underground comix legend, Harvey Pekar. There's a real mix of themes and emotions in these stories. Some are quite beautiful while others are downright tragic. There's high drama in just about every tale. Yet, I don't recall laughing once, as none of these not-so-true stories are what you would consider comedies. Even the Pekar story which is based on how he meet his wife via postcard correspondence is twinged with sadness. And to my chagrin, more than one story ends with that blasted pet peeve of mine- the open-ended ending!
If you are looking for a smile, you won't find them in this book. Yet, despite the sadness that colors every story, there's something that just made me keep turning the page wanting to know what happens next. With some explicit language and adult themes, this is not a book for kids. But this is duly worth a read if you can find this 2007 collection published by Villard.
Worth Consuming
Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.
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