Had a Good Time-Stories From American Postcards, by Robert Olen Butler (2004)

Next up is Connie from Outreach Services.

I have always loved postcards and collected them from a young age. Mr. Butler shares my interest but with a creative twist that I found very interesting. He collected postcards from the early 1900’s, based on the intriguing messages written on the back. The book, a collection of short stories, is set up with each story beginning with a newspaper clipping from the period, followed by the postcard and note. Mr. Butler then composed a story about the note’s author, imagining what life must have been like in this time period. I was amazed at the detail about historical events of the time, and the way he managed to compose each story in the voice of different characters. The stories ranged from a bellhop unhappy with waiting on rich people, to a mother who follows her son to the battle front in WW I, to a fiance dying of consumption. I loved the story, “Twins” about two twin sisters in quarantine on Ellis Island. One was not allowed to enter the country because her eyes became infected with trachoma, so both were going back to Ireland. The book ends with the one postcard picture of a group of people in the ocean at Coney Island, N.Y. The only note written was the date, “Sunday, Aug 7th 1910”. From this open canvas, Mr. Butler imagines a young woman enjoying the day at the beach with her 48 year old husband, who dies of an apparent heart attack, unnoticed by the crowd. If you like historical fiction, you’ll enjoy these stories.

Check the WRL catalog for Had a Good Time