Our January 2019 package (only our 2nd package ever) included a novella by Chad Lutzke titled, STIRRING THE SHEETS.
Review from Night Worms rep, Rachel "Shades of Orange"
Natalie @8luebird
#8luereviews2020 | 5*
.
Stirring The Sheets was my first step into the works of Chad Lutzke, gifted by @iflirtwithcakeandshoes as one of her favourite books.
I knew nothing about the storyline before I submerged myself in this unknown world and it was unlike anything else I’ve read recently.
.
This novella is deliciously heartbreaking in a way that makes your very bones ache. The mood, soft and low throughout, is beautifully poignant and incredibly immersive. Lutzke’s writing reads like realism in the sense that you could very well be witnessing a genuine occurrence of life. The highly descriptive and emotive words carry the story right off the page, delivering them directly to the heart, where they will linger long after. This is loss at its rawest and most honest. The vulnerability of the main character is intensely endearing and immediately incites a connection that is both tender and fragile in its sensitivity. You feel what he feels because, in the simplest way, he has become a part of you.
.
I was not expecting to be so completely moved within so few pages and yet I was. Even now, recalling the way I felt when reading this book, I notice that same ache. There is longing and loneliness, and amidst the dark there is a small glimmer of hope. Some stories build their homes inside your hearts — Stirring The Sheets is now a permanent resident in mine.
Chad Lutzke has done it again. If you've read, OF FOSTER HOMES AND FLIES or SKULLFACE BOY, you know what I mean. Lutzke has this way about storytelling that feels very much like he has developed a special way to penetrate past the page to hijack his readers' emotions.
Almost immediately, through careful character building, Lutzke begins to build bridges from his protagonist to my heart. These bridges are the means in which the words just walk right off the page. And sometimes, nothing really significant is happening there but these quiet story moments. For example, the main character Emmet, sits down to eat breakfast and he's having eggs & toast with a bowl of Grape Nuts covered in honey. My heart grabs at this because I eat my Grape Nuts covered in honey. And it's these details that feel so intimate, so specific, that they get into your mind and you find yourself in relationship with the characters-their pain is your pain, their shoes are your shoes...it's very dangerous because you can feel your heart being tugged on and you know that at any moment, Lutzke has the ability to rip apart the seams and let everything spill out.
And this was THAT.
A very sad, quiet story that feels far too authentic to be fictional. It's tragic, beautiful and overwhelmingly hard-hitting on the emotions. But I wouldn't have it any other way. It's what I've come to expect from this author and I keep showing up for it--you should too. It feels good to feel your feelings, sometimes.