The Sad Eye

Anne Savoie is a youth counsellor in Anjou, Quebec.

In these stories, Burningham draws the reader into the minds of his
narrators. Some of the stories are narrated by a teen, some by a
middle-aged woman, and some by a man. Each narrator is well developed as
the character Burningham wishes to present. These characters see the
world through, for example, the eyes of a naive adolescent, or those of
the more knowledgeable older woman.

In “The Girl with the Baby Arms,” a man writes a letter to his
brother letting him know how his life is going and also how he has
perceived past events and relationships. In “Landlock,” a
15-year-old boy recounts how he slowly noticed a teacher of a previous
grade become stranger as time went on. Finally, the teacher quit his
profession to work in the local IGA grocery store. The boy tells it
through the eyes of inexperience and unfamiliarity with life and all
that accompanies life. In “Among Children,” a man volunteers for the
Children’s Aid Society, tutoring two kids. He wishes to help them
since in his own youth he himself had been a victim of neglect and
abuse.

This is an insightful and ingenuous first collection.