Beer with a Hamster Chaser: A Surprisingly Intriguing yet Quirky Character Study

Beer with a Hamster Chaser by Devon Monk

So I’m diving further into Devon Monk’s Short story collection, A Cup of Normal. I wanted to see what else she could write. Her second story in the collection is Beer with a Hamster Chaser. Here is my review.

What is it about? Well that’s kind of convoluted but here we go. The story starts with Gerald and Carla doing an experiment. They are drugging a hamster to run on a small treadmill while hooked up to various wires leading to a machine. In theory if any wave lengths of an parallel reality reacts with our own while this is happening a light bulb will turn on. I don’t understand the logic, but the story asks you to go with it. As the two work, the reader learns about them. Gerald is struggling with alcoholism and can’t stand the thought of who his sister is marrying. Carla on the other hand wants Gerald to be something more than a friend. And this experiment in a way changes the direction of their lives.

The good? His is a clever little story. It is completely human character driven story that happens to have a little bit of quantum physics in the background. The characters are fleshed out and likable. And the story was just charming. I thought it was a pleasant surprise.

The bad? The story is a bit of a bait and switch. It has little to do with science fiction, that the quantum physics element could be removed and it would not affect the story at all. So I think this would be very disappointing to those who enjoy science fiction.

Overall, it’s an intriguing little character study. I really thought it was great it’s not fantastic, but if you find it somewhere, please read it. It’s worth your time.

3 smoothies out of four.

Overall Rating: A Surprisingly Intriguing yet Quirky Character Study