The Sandblasting Hall of Fame

Heather Doody teaches in the English Department of Sir Wilfred Grenfell
College at the Memorial University of Newfoundland.

This collection of short stories explores life in general through
glimpses of lives in particular. Hanrahan, whom we get to know best of
all, is the protagonist in three of the nine stories. His sense of
observing others and himself from a distance, whether it is with
binoculars from his home office window or with metaphorical “opera
glasses” in a hall of reflection on his past, sets the tone for the
reader as voyeur of the lives we see in the collection.

Mathews has a remarkable ability to balance the serious with the
comical, and the result is a collection that allows us the perspective
to see the genuine strangeness of life and, rather than be overcome by
existential angst, to take it with a grain of salt—or sand. His
laid-back style, which can simultaneously poke fun at and create
sympathy for its characters, makes The Sandblasting Hall of Fame easily
one of the best collections of short stories this reviewer has ever
read.