Sam Porter

High Noon at Starbucks is an immensely enjoyable collection of short stories. The author, Richard Freadman writes with wit and energy. Freadman’s key theme is the vicissitudes of life: the effects of experience on childhood, the complexities of ageing, of dealing with mental and physical health, with love or its absence and the simultaneous effort to seek or retain a sense of authenticity in the face of social and existential dissatisfaction that cannot be quite redressed. The writing style is fluid with the stories careening between tragic, tragicomic and comic. The characters are vivid and compelling, ranging from the relatively stable to the extreme and even sociopathic. The stories take place across various cultural locations. For example, the signature story of the collection, “High Noon at Starbucks”, is set in America and evokes the conventions of the Western Genre. It’s High Noon so it’s not just the coffee that’s brewing. However, Freadman subverts the genre, rewiring it to contemporary issues of gender and patriarchy in the form of a hilarious critique of politically charged Trumpite Florida. Addressing such a broad ranging theme in one collection tests a writer’s ability and Freadman rises to the challenge with fictional realism of a high order. He handles his material with such ease that complex statements which in less subtle hands might sound awkward, here seem to rise naturally within the narrative. The range, depth and sheer inventiveness of these lyrical stories is the product of a rich and rare talent. High Noon at Starbucks is proof that Freadman knows how to tell a story.