Pearl Ahnen is the author of the recently published collection of short stories and poems, "Balancing Act."
The collection is a collaboration of her works from past years. Each story delves into the world of a different character - a whole, complete character. Like an actress, Ahnen takes on the role of these characters, and she becomes them. Through this she is able to create a character as familiar as one's neighbor, sister, father and even oneself. Ahnen is a regional writer and some of her stories take place in Ann Arbor. This only furthers the sensation that these characters are real people that one has come across at some point.
Each character, by simply living his or her life, teaches the reader an important lesson and tells an intriguing tale. The topics covered in these stories include coping with the loss of a loved one, the transformation into womanhood under the close
 |
| SARA STILLMAN/Daily Pearl Ahnen read from her book, "Balancing Act," on Tuesday at Shaman Drum. |
Ahnen's style is extremely graceful and fluid; one can complete this whole collection in one sitting. Though her characters and stories are so life-like, she has the perfect balance of tension and laughter, heartbreak and humor, to make this collection truly entertaining.
"Balancing Act," the title story, is particularly thought-provoking. Ahnen thoroughly develops the character Eleni, and shows her transformation into womanhood and how she deals with a perverse man who wishes to take advantage of her growing beauty. This man, who stares at her from the corner of his eyes, is not a man she can easily escape. He helped her immigrant father get a job, and, out of respect, she must call him uncle. Eleni, being a bright and witty girl, is able to see right through him and protect herself from an uncomfortable situation. Eleni teaches a great lesson on the inner strength hidden deep within every child. Throughout the novel, Ahnen uses plausible stories such as this to get inside her readers' hearts and minds in order to teach valuable lessons.
Before writing fiction, Ahnen was an award winning journalist and a playwright. This experience proved to be an extremely useful source from which Ahnen was able to draw in order to produce her masterpieces. When asked where these characters come from, Ahnen points to her head and replies, "They are all in here." As wonderful a writer as Ahnen is at short stories, she far surpasses her own abilities when it comes to writing poetry. Her poems have the power to dive into the inner depths of the reader, and draw from the source of emotion that enable the reader to truly feel Ahnen's poetry. Though her poems reflect her own personal experiences, the feelings expressed are again universal.
At Shaman Drum on Tuesday evening, Ahnen read from her new collection. For Ahnen, a reading is an opportunity to let all of those characters who exist only in her head, and now in her book, come alive. When asked which story is her favorite she explains that just as mother has no favorite child, she does not have a favorite story. "They are all my babies," she says with a smile. Her reading spurred many questions and great interest from the listeners. The audience received her very well, and not only enjoyed themselves, but learned a great deal in the process.
Throughout the entire interview, Ahnen spoke with intensity and passion about her writing. Ahnen was quick to offer some valuable pieces of advice for aspiring writers. "Just do it, and do not stop. Practice writing and let your mind run free."
Speaking to her one on one, it became evident that Ahnen is quite an inspiration. She has the power to make one believe that it is possible to achieve anything, a power which is transposed into her writing. Ahnen's stories and poetry are extremely forceful and they compel the reader to be overcome with emotions ranging from all shades of the spectrum. In reading her stories and poetry, the reader, like Eleni, becomes a balancing act of emotions.
Ahnen's style is extremely graceful and fluid; one can complete this whole collection in one sitting. Though her characters and stories are so life-like, she has the perfect balance of tension and laughter, heartbreak and humor, to make this collection truly entertaining.
"Balancing Act," the title story, is particularly thought-provoking. Ahnen thoroughly develops the character Eleni and shows her transformation into womanhood and how she deals with a perverse man who wishes to take advantage of her growing beauty.
This man, who stares at her from the corners of his eyes, is not a man she can easily escape. He helped her immigrant father get a job, and, out of respect, she must call him uncle.
Eleni, a bright and witty girl, is able to see right through him and therefore protect herself from an uncomfortable situation. Eleni teaches a great lesson on the strength hidden deep within every child.
Throughout the novel, Ahnen uses plausible stories such as this to get inside her readers' hearts and minds to teach valuable lessons.
Before writing fiction, Ahnen was an award-winning journalist and a playwright.
This experience proved to be an extremely useful source from which Ahnen was able to draw to produce her masterpieces. When asked where these characters come from, Ahnen points to her head and replies, "They are all in here."
As wonderful a writer as Ahnen is at short stories, she far surpasses her own abilities when it comes to writing poetry.
Her poems have the power to dive into the inner depths of the reader, and draw from the source of emotion that enable the reader to truly feel Ahnen's poetry.
Although her poems reflect her own personal experiences, the feelings expressed are again universal.
At Shaman Drum on Tuesday evening, Ahnen read from her new collection.
For Ahnen, a reading is an opportunity to let all of those characters who only exist in her head, and now in her book, come alive.
When asked which story is her favorite, she explained that just as mother has no favorite child, she does not have a favorite story. "They are all my babies," she said with a smile.
Her reading spurred many questions and great interest from the listeners.
The audience received her well, and not only enjoyed themselves, but learned a great deal in the process.
Throughout the interview, Ahnen spoke with intensity and passion about her writing. Ahnen was quick to offer some valuable pieces of advice for aspiring writers.
"Just do it, and do not stop. Practice writing and let your mind run free."
Ahnen has the power to make one believe that it is possible to achieve anything, a power that is transposed into her writing.
Ahnen's stories and poetry are extremely forceful and they compel the reader to be overcome with emotions ranging from all shades of the spectrum.
In reading her stories and poetry, the reader, like Eleni, becomes a balancing act of emotions.
- Corinne Schneider
01-23-98
| Previous Article | Next Article |
should be sent to: daily.letters@umich.edu | should be sent to: online.daily@umich.edu |