cover image A Problem of Plumbing and Other Stories

A Problem of Plumbing and Other Stories

James M. Bellarosa. John Daniel & Company Books, $8.95 (120pp) ISBN 978-0-936784-76-2

This debut short-fiction collection--poignant, hilarious, maddening--will raise the consciousness of able-bodied people. Wheelchair-bound for 30 years, Bellarosa imaginatively considers the frustrations of living in a world that gives little thought to the needs of those who cannot negotiate steps, curbs and other common structures. He never indulges in self-pity, not even in the title story, where the narrator is on a date in a formal restaurant and everyone present becomes aware of his urgent need to reach the non-wheelchair-accessible bathroom and squeeze into the stall. Nor does the author make a political case for change. Rather, he simply chooses to ply his audience with skilled narrative, laced with fast-paced humor, that transforms Bellarosa's personal experiences into subtle lessons on the essential universality of the human condition. (May)