Title: The Stuff of Monuments: A Collection of Short Stories
Author: Richard A. Crousey
Publisher: XlibrisUS
ISBN: 978-1-9845-7009-3
Genre: Short Stories
Pages: 53
Reviewed by: Allison Walker

Read Book Review

It won’t be the big days, the weddings and graduations, that you will look back on bittersweet and longing. It’s the small moments, the last time your child ran to you and hugged your legs, that you will look back on and wish you had savored. As author Richard A. Crousey so eloquently writes, “It’s the disappearing that catches our attention.” His collection of short stories, The Stuff of Monuments, reflects on the “little things” that escape our attention until they’re gone, and shows us how important it is to not take anything for granted.

Crousey is a contemplative author, attuned to the teachings of Christ and appreciative of His work. Crousey’s collection is well written and easy-going, meandering, enjoying and savoring now the moments he may have taken for granted at the time of their happening. Polite and earnest, Crousey makes you feel you are doing him a favor as a reader, rather than the other way around. To share in his most precious memories, and to learn from this thoughtful man is truly a gift for his readers.

What may be most remarkable about Crousey’s collection of stories is his ability to turn any mistake into a learning experience, and to find the good in any bad day. When Crousey has a bad day, he reflects on the choices he made and how he can make better days in the future. You learn just a few stories into the collection, Crousey is writing is own obituary. In what he describes as a “briar patch,” Crousey reveals to his readers he is diagnosed with cancer, and undergoing treatment for this terrible disease. He calls this time of his life the “briar patch” because while he and his wife were surrounded by thorns, into their life came loyal friends to help them and a new God-given direction. They learn they don’t have to fight the thorns, they can hunker down and live peacefully in their midst by faith and love.
Crousey writes, “My intention was… to be a good Christian witness not only for our children but for their friends as well.” His noble aspirations certainly come to fruition in his collection. His stories are each a small blessing, reminding us to count our own, and his life one of faith and goodness.

The Stuff of Monuments is a small blessing itself, sweet and simple like a prayer, a novel memento to an ordinary life. Readers of all ages can glean some sweetness and happiness from reading Crousey’s words.