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Warmer #3
Controller
What happens when temperatures flare between a mother and son? A few degrees make all the difference in this New York Times bestselling author’s blazingly chilling story of psychological terror.
It’s the hottest winter on record, but Raymond’s demanding, bedridden mother doesn’t mind. She likes it warm. Lately, however, control over the thermostat has become a nasty struggle. And each morning that she’s still alive is a suffocating new challenge for Raymond. How high can the mercury climb before he boils over?
Jesse Kellerman’s Controller is part of Warmer, a collection of seven visions of a conceivable tomorrow by today’s most thought-provoking authors. Alarming, inventive, intimate, and frightening, each story can be read, or listened to, in a single breathtaking sitting.
30 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 30, 2018
About the author
Jesse Kellerman
45 books264 followersJesse Kellerman was born in Los Angeles in 1978. His award-winning plays have been produced throughout the United States and at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Most recently, he received the Princess Grace Award, given to America’s most promising young playwright. He lives with his wife in New York City.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 131 reviews
December 22, 2020
What a shame that a casual read does not always alert the reader to the wider dimensions of this short story.
The crux of the plot is hidden in plain sight and as most don’t see this alternative reality this piece gets awful reviews. Ignore them!
As part of the warmer series this author has been so clever he has shown the extremes of life, our ability to function properly and what happens when the temperature changes. This is a parable of the minute increases, but year on year rises in a sea temperatures and what we know as global warming.
In his story we have an extreme relationship of senile old bird and her spoilt and hen pecked son. The general temperature is out of control but internally, within the domestic setting one controller by touch and voice command regulates the living environment.
Trouble is Mother is batty, thinks herself unable to walk, take herself to the loo or survive without her doting boy. On top of this she feels the cold, despite blankets so her thermostat is never high enough for her comfort. While her more functioning lad is sweating and suffering from heat stroke.
Instead of having a linear story with chronology taking us to an uncertain end we have Groundhog Day on Speed!
The author replays a similar scenario where the range of temperature varies so we see its effect on socialisation, communication, interaction, mood, ability to complete tasks and this key relationship between Mother and Son.
This message is clear; the higher the temperature the less control or certain the outcome.
So worthy of being read; shame the simple concept is lost and not stressed.,If readers got it from the beginning the reading experience would be so much more favourable.
As vile as the Mother is at times in her lucid moments she is extremely funny - the power of the writer or the ambient temperature?
The crux of the plot is hidden in plain sight and as most don’t see this alternative reality this piece gets awful reviews. Ignore them!
As part of the warmer series this author has been so clever he has shown the extremes of life, our ability to function properly and what happens when the temperature changes. This is a parable of the minute increases, but year on year rises in a sea temperatures and what we know as global warming.
In his story we have an extreme relationship of senile old bird and her spoilt and hen pecked son. The general temperature is out of control but internally, within the domestic setting one controller by touch and voice command regulates the living environment.
Trouble is Mother is batty, thinks herself unable to walk, take herself to the loo or survive without her doting boy. On top of this she feels the cold, despite blankets so her thermostat is never high enough for her comfort. While her more functioning lad is sweating and suffering from heat stroke.
Instead of having a linear story with chronology taking us to an uncertain end we have Groundhog Day on Speed!
The author replays a similar scenario where the range of temperature varies so we see its effect on socialisation, communication, interaction, mood, ability to complete tasks and this key relationship between Mother and Son.
This message is clear; the higher the temperature the less control or certain the outcome.
So worthy of being read; shame the simple concept is lost and not stressed.,If readers got it from the beginning the reading experience would be so much more favourable.
As vile as the Mother is at times in her lucid moments she is extremely funny - the power of the writer or the ambient temperature?
November 8, 2018
Controller is the 3rd story in the Warmer Collection from Amazon Originals/Audible. There are 7 stories from various authors in the collection. All have a theme of climate change....sort of.
In Controller, an elderly mother and her son are living together. Both are abusive to each other. Their contempt and disrespect of each other manifests in a fight over control of the thermostat. It's hot outside. The elderly mother who is cold all the time wants the AC off. The son, who is hot, wants it left on. Tempers flare....and the temperature keeps rising, inside and out.
I did not like this story. I hated both of the characters. The mother's incessant droning on and on about how having a child ruined her life, how she is old and cold, and nagging her son for ice cream.....OMG I wanted to hop into the story and just scream at her to shut the F up. And the son, thinking about how he hates being stuck with his aging mother (understandable really as she is completely horrific), is just completely unable to stand up for himself and be an adult. He basically just whines. Two awful people stuck in a hot, awful house basking in their awfulness together. Ick.
I listened to the audio book version of this story. It was just over an hour of pure agony. The narration by Chris Andrew Ciulla is spot on. He does the voices and emotions of the characters perfectly. But....the characters are completely annoying. Therefore, the audio was torture to listen to. It's not Ciulla's fault -- his acting was great. It's the characters that are the problem. I could not stand 5 minutes in a room with either one of them without losing my temper. The whining and complaining mother. The simpering son. Ugh. I'm not a quitter....and I can endure just about anything for an hour....so I listened to the whole thing hoping it would get better.
Nope. Hated it.
Terrible.
But.....a story that causes a real emotional reaction in readers is well-written. If I was rating this story purely on my enjoyment of the tale....I would give this one star and be happy with that. But....this story really made me uncomfortable, angry, annoyed.....so Jesse Kellerman got his point across. I was supposed to feel that way. His characters are both assholes.....I'm supposed to hate them. I don't have to like the point....he's just supposed to make me FEEL his point.
Message received. Two stars. Well-written story -- horrific, unlikable characters.
OMG....that mother. Holy shit. What a nightmare!
In Controller, an elderly mother and her son are living together. Both are abusive to each other. Their contempt and disrespect of each other manifests in a fight over control of the thermostat. It's hot outside. The elderly mother who is cold all the time wants the AC off. The son, who is hot, wants it left on. Tempers flare....and the temperature keeps rising, inside and out.
I did not like this story. I hated both of the characters. The mother's incessant droning on and on about how having a child ruined her life, how she is old and cold, and nagging her son for ice cream.....OMG I wanted to hop into the story and just scream at her to shut the F up. And the son, thinking about how he hates being stuck with his aging mother (understandable really as she is completely horrific), is just completely unable to stand up for himself and be an adult. He basically just whines. Two awful people stuck in a hot, awful house basking in their awfulness together. Ick.
I listened to the audio book version of this story. It was just over an hour of pure agony. The narration by Chris Andrew Ciulla is spot on. He does the voices and emotions of the characters perfectly. But....the characters are completely annoying. Therefore, the audio was torture to listen to. It's not Ciulla's fault -- his acting was great. It's the characters that are the problem. I could not stand 5 minutes in a room with either one of them without losing my temper. The whining and complaining mother. The simpering son. Ugh. I'm not a quitter....and I can endure just about anything for an hour....so I listened to the whole thing hoping it would get better.
Nope. Hated it.
Terrible.
But.....a story that causes a real emotional reaction in readers is well-written. If I was rating this story purely on my enjoyment of the tale....I would give this one star and be happy with that. But....this story really made me uncomfortable, angry, annoyed.....so Jesse Kellerman got his point across. I was supposed to feel that way. His characters are both assholes.....I'm supposed to hate them. I don't have to like the point....he's just supposed to make me FEEL his point.
Message received. Two stars. Well-written story -- horrific, unlikable characters.
OMG....that mother. Holy shit. What a nightmare!
March 31, 2023
The concensus on ‘Controller’ by Jesse Kellerman on Goodreads seems to be it is a terrible and incomprehensible novella.
I thought it was hilarious. Bite me.
I have copied the book blurb:
” What happens when temperatures flare between a mother and son? A few degrees make all the difference in this New York Times bestselling author’s blazingly chilling story of psychological terror.
It’s the hottest winter on record, but Raymond’s demanding, bedridden mother doesn’t mind. She likes it warm. Lately, however, control over the thermostat has become a nasty struggle. And each morning that she’s still alive is a suffocating new challenge for Raymond. How high can the mercury climb before he boils over?
Jesse Kellerman’s Controller is part of Warmer, a collection of seven visions of a conceivable tomorrow by today’s most thought-provoking authors. Alarming, inventive, intimate, and frightening, each story can be read, or listened to, in a single breathtaking sitting.”
The dance of hatred between Raymond and his mother is not exactly unheard of. I was reminded of the relationship between Norman and Norma Bates in the TV show, Bates Motel and the movie Psycho, which is based on the real-life story of Ed Gein https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Gein. A few other real-life serial killers’ backgrounds included an abusive mother as well. An abusive mom torturing their children is rarer than an abusive dad, but it is real thing.
A powerful mom vs. a cringing adult son hate relationship isn’t any different than a woman with means of escape who stays with a wife-beating husband. Why some people do this macabre dance, stay in the same house, never attempting an escape even when they have the means to leave, who knows? Sometimes it’s because the abused person believes they are too incompetent to survive on their own, others because they are hostage to whatever power the abuser has, like over young children. But sometimes the people who are involved in this dance don’t seem to have a sensible reason at all to stay, like the character Raymond in ‘Controller’!
Kellerman manages to show how this abusive relationship spirals when the earth has ‘warmed’ to the point it is 100F in December. Mom has the controller to the AC in the house. Raymond wants the AC to be set at 85F, but mom, an invalid, keeps setting the house temperature to whatever the temperature is outside, usually around 100F. She is a mean bitch, too, ordering Raymond to wait on her hand and foot. He does it, grumbling, hating her. But he does it. Until it really gets hot…
I thought it was hilarious. Bite me.
I have copied the book blurb:
” What happens when temperatures flare between a mother and son? A few degrees make all the difference in this New York Times bestselling author’s blazingly chilling story of psychological terror.
It’s the hottest winter on record, but Raymond’s demanding, bedridden mother doesn’t mind. She likes it warm. Lately, however, control over the thermostat has become a nasty struggle. And each morning that she’s still alive is a suffocating new challenge for Raymond. How high can the mercury climb before he boils over?
Jesse Kellerman’s Controller is part of Warmer, a collection of seven visions of a conceivable tomorrow by today’s most thought-provoking authors. Alarming, inventive, intimate, and frightening, each story can be read, or listened to, in a single breathtaking sitting.”
The dance of hatred between Raymond and his mother is not exactly unheard of. I was reminded of the relationship between Norman and Norma Bates in the TV show, Bates Motel and the movie Psycho, which is based on the real-life story of Ed Gein https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Gein. A few other real-life serial killers’ backgrounds included an abusive mother as well. An abusive mom torturing their children is rarer than an abusive dad, but it is real thing.
A powerful mom vs. a cringing adult son hate relationship isn’t any different than a woman with means of escape who stays with a wife-beating husband. Why some people do this macabre dance, stay in the same house, never attempting an escape even when they have the means to leave, who knows? Sometimes it’s because the abused person believes they are too incompetent to survive on their own, others because they are hostage to whatever power the abuser has, like over young children. But sometimes the people who are involved in this dance don’t seem to have a sensible reason at all to stay, like the character Raymond in ‘Controller’!
Kellerman manages to show how this abusive relationship spirals when the earth has ‘warmed’ to the point it is 100F in December. Mom has the controller to the AC in the house. Raymond wants the AC to be set at 85F, but mom, an invalid, keeps setting the house temperature to whatever the temperature is outside, usually around 100F. She is a mean bitch, too, ordering Raymond to wait on her hand and foot. He does it, grumbling, hating her. But he does it. Until it really gets hot…
May 31, 2022
Terrible.
November 21, 2018
It is a good thing this book was very short. Otherwise, I couldn't have finished it.
December 16, 2020
Squabbling over the Temperature Control
Review of the Amazon Original Kindle eBook edition (October 2018)
A mother and son fight over their air conditioner remote control in a future world where the outside temperature is at a regular high 90s - low 100's Fahrenheit. The son regularly goes to the store for ice cream. That's about it, except for the nuance of the mother's "control" over the son with manipulation.
Controller is one of the 7 short stories included in the Warmer Collection, a series of climate-related fiction released October 30, 2018 from Amazon Original Stories. Fear and hope collide in this collection of possible tomorrows. What happens when boiling heat stokes family resentments; when a girl’s personal crisis trumps global catastrophe; or when two climate scientists decide to party like it’s the end of the world? Like the best sci-fi, these cli-fi stories offer up answers that are darkly funny, liberating, and all too conceivable.
Review of the Amazon Original Kindle eBook edition (October 2018)
A mother and son fight over their air conditioner remote control in a future world where the outside temperature is at a regular high 90s - low 100's Fahrenheit. The son regularly goes to the store for ice cream. That's about it, except for the nuance of the mother's "control" over the son with manipulation.
Controller is one of the 7 short stories included in the Warmer Collection, a series of climate-related fiction released October 30, 2018 from Amazon Original Stories. Fear and hope collide in this collection of possible tomorrows. What happens when boiling heat stokes family resentments; when a girl’s personal crisis trumps global catastrophe; or when two climate scientists decide to party like it’s the end of the world? Like the best sci-fi, these cli-fi stories offer up answers that are darkly funny, liberating, and all too conceivable.
November 6, 2018
Awful, don’t listen to the audible
I didn’t like the book but the narration made it absolutely atrocious. I would like to leave negative stars based on that alone. Maybe if you read it it will be slightly better but I like to listen to books on my commute and this made me want to pierce my ear drums
I didn’t like the book but the narration made it absolutely atrocious. I would like to leave negative stars based on that alone. Maybe if you read it it will be slightly better but I like to listen to books on my commute and this made me want to pierce my ear drums
August 5, 2022
I thought this was the best of the "Warmer" stories so far. (In all fairness, so far I haven't liked the series much overall.)
This was set in a near future where even the winters are hot and a man is taking care of his elderly mother and fighting her over the remote control which controls the house, most importantly the thermostat. This was dark and depressing, but by design. If you've ever experienced intense heat and humidity (and we all have) then you know how it can darken your mood, making even the most even tempered person irritable.
Not a story to make you smile (unless it's an ironic smile) but not too bad.
This was set in a near future where even the winters are hot and a man is taking care of his elderly mother and fighting her over the remote control which controls the house, most importantly the thermostat. This was dark and depressing, but by design. If you've ever experienced intense heat and humidity (and we all have) then you know how it can darken your mood, making even the most even tempered person irritable.
Not a story to make you smile (unless it's an ironic smile) but not too bad.
November 14, 2021
This was like a very good episode of The Twilight Zone and if you weren't paying attention to chapter headings you would be lost!
In the not too distant future it's hot. Like hell hot. The main character lives with his insufferable mother in a house controlled by her voice alone. To make matters worse, the world has heated up to roughly the temperature of the hinges of hell and mom is always cold.
What to do?
In the not too distant future it's hot. Like hell hot. The main character lives with his insufferable mother in a house controlled by her voice alone. To make matters worse, the world has heated up to roughly the temperature of the hinges of hell and mom is always cold.
What to do?
August 13, 2024
Succinct and suffocating. Warmer is proving to be a very unpleasant and challenging series of stories.
November 29, 2021
I didn't know what the hell this book was about.
November 8, 2018
I really didn't like this novella. Classic abuse in both directions between elder and adult son. Really didn't like the narrator, either. He overplayed tone to the point of incomprehension of dialogue.
November 27, 2018
.5/5
Out of this collection, this one is the worst.. in my opinion.
Out of this collection, this one is the worst.. in my opinion.
December 9, 2018
There are, I believe, seven books in this "Warmer" Collection. This is the second I've read. I won't be reading anymore. Just terrible, both books are not worth your time.
August 13, 2020
this was insufferable
August 15, 2022
A short story based around the idea of climate change. Was it worth my time? Probably not.
June 4, 2023
Headline: What would you do when you had no control?
Plot: Raymond lives with his mother, who controls the AC and his life. So how will he deal with this?
Likes: The story keeps up with the pace and it's a nice metaphor for how the older generation can impact the freedoms and lifestyle of the younger generations.
Dislikes: The story is an exaggerated controlling parent metaphor, so it might not be up to everyone's liking.
Recommended audience: Those who love a bit of parody and humor with their moral story.
Rating: I give this story 4/5 stars, as I enjoyed it, even though it was a bit odd.
Plot: Raymond lives with his mother, who controls the AC and his life. So how will he deal with this?
Likes: The story keeps up with the pace and it's a nice metaphor for how the older generation can impact the freedoms and lifestyle of the younger generations.
Dislikes: The story is an exaggerated controlling parent metaphor, so it might not be up to everyone's liking.
Recommended audience: Those who love a bit of parody and humor with their moral story.
Rating: I give this story 4/5 stars, as I enjoyed it, even though it was a bit odd.
April 24, 2022
The moral of the story: Temperatures rise when the temperature rises so keep cool.
*Note: I hope I never hear those characters again!
*Note: I hope I never hear those characters again!
February 26, 2019
Forget the horrors of global warming. What about when your Mom has sole control of the remote?
November 21, 2018
I listened to the audio version of this. I have to say, the narrator completely diminishes the work by wildly overacting. He adds flourish were none should exist, often gets the inflection wrong, invents character voices that are cartoonish at best (Think Mrs. Bighead of Rocko's Modern Life). I'll need to go back and read this through to be fair to the author, just know that the audible version is distracting and excruciating.
December 31, 2020
Oof. This story is cruel and gross. There is nothing funny about elder abuse. It does not matter if the person in question is described as being unpleasant; there is a huge difference between intentional cruelty and the effects of old age on both the body and the mind. Are things pretty bad for our narrator? I suppose so- he’s unhappy, he’s lonely, and he lives with his mother. He lives, might I add, rent and utility free with his mother. Our narrator is upset that his elderly mother keeps the climate control cranked to hot-house temperatures. We’re in the near future, the temperature is rising, and all people have their power monitored by some sort of government-backed conglomerate. Only her voice controls their temperature. She frequently uses her voice to belittle him…but she is clearly losing her mental faculties. He engages in some particularly nasty behavior, including but not limited to animal cruelty, leering at young women, and the afore-mentioned elder abuse. The audio narration is over-the-top and leans too strongly into icky stereotypes. Skip this one. I’m sure it may be defended as being a dArK cOmEdY, but it- much like the narrator- is truly without redeeming characteristics.
November 17, 2018
Humm... My pet peeve, is a book where I hate the two main characters... I hated the old lady, the mom, such a needy bitch. Oh gods, and her voice was just... jarring... (I myself am an older woman, I hope to god to never sound like this.) and the adult son, wow, that's another thing to have allowed his life to go so far out of control... I don't care how hot it gets outside...
The book is well written... And I thought the narration was good as Chris Andrew Ciulla preformed each character well...
The book is well written... And I thought the narration was good as Chris Andrew Ciulla preformed each character well...
December 23, 2020
Potensialı olub bu cür məhv edilən hekayə xatırlamıram. Amazonun Warmer cli-fi (iqlim ədəbiyyatı) seriyasından dinlədiyim bu 3-cü hekayə oxunuş tərzi baxımından əla olsa da, yazıçı bu hekayəni yazma səbəbini sanki unudur.
Bu hekayə qışın ortasında 37 selsi dərəcəli temperaturda Nyu Yorkun göbəyində bir evdə yaşayan ana ilə oğulun didişməsi və evin havasını idarə edən pultun üstündəki davadan danışır. Nə bir trillerlik qatdılar, nə bir dram. Arada pultun paltaryuyan maşında yuyulması ilə həyəcanlansam da, hekayə bir yerə bağlanmadı və heç nə olmamış kimi bitdi. Heyif sənə...
Bu hekayə qışın ortasında 37 selsi dərəcəli temperaturda Nyu Yorkun göbəyində bir evdə yaşayan ana ilə oğulun didişməsi və evin havasını idarə edən pultun üstündəki davadan danışır. Nə bir trillerlik qatdılar, nə bir dram. Arada pultun paltaryuyan maşında yuyulması ilə həyəcanlansam da, hekayə bir yerə bağlanmadı və heç nə olmamış kimi bitdi. Heyif sənə...
August 2, 2022
Book Review: Controller by Jesse Kellerman
Rating: 🐾🐾🐾🐾
Genre: Science Fiction
Published: 10/30/18
Review: So this one I can relate to wholeheartedly! I HATE the heat and since most of the works is going through some massive heat waves, this is the perfect book to read right now. Raymond is living at home taking care of his mother who cannot walk. But she has full control over the thermostat and keeps turning it up or off. He comes home after going to the store to get her ice cream and realizes that the thermostat was turned up again and it is above 90 in their house. The story is short but goes through him trying to gain control of the thermostat so he can finally be comfortable in his own home. Definitely my favorite so far!
Summary: What happens when temperatures flare between a mother and son? A few degrees make all the difference in this New York Times bestselling author's blazingly chilling story of psychological terror. It's the hottest winter on record, but Raymond's demanding, bedridden mother doesn't mind. She likes it warm. Lately, however, control over the thermostat has become a nasty struggle. And each morning that she's still alive is a suffocating new challenge for Raymond. How high can the mercury climb before he boils over? Jesse Kellerman's Controller is part of Warmer, a collection of seven visions of a conceivable tomorrow by today's most thought-provoking authors. Alarming, inventive, intimate, and frightening, each story can be read, or listened to, in a single breathtaking sitting.
#mybookfeatures #bookstagrammer #bookstagramit #bookstagram #bibliophile #booksaremylife #bookasthetic #booktalk #readingtime #booklove #bookphotography #bookrecs #bookish #readingcommunity #readaholic #instabooks #bookcollector #bookcollection #bookhaul #bookcommunity #bookstack #bookaholic #booklover #bookaddict #readinglife #bookshelf #bookrecommendations #bookreview #controller #jessekellerman
Rating: 🐾🐾🐾🐾
Genre: Science Fiction
Published: 10/30/18
Review: So this one I can relate to wholeheartedly! I HATE the heat and since most of the works is going through some massive heat waves, this is the perfect book to read right now. Raymond is living at home taking care of his mother who cannot walk. But she has full control over the thermostat and keeps turning it up or off. He comes home after going to the store to get her ice cream and realizes that the thermostat was turned up again and it is above 90 in their house. The story is short but goes through him trying to gain control of the thermostat so he can finally be comfortable in his own home. Definitely my favorite so far!
Summary: What happens when temperatures flare between a mother and son? A few degrees make all the difference in this New York Times bestselling author's blazingly chilling story of psychological terror. It's the hottest winter on record, but Raymond's demanding, bedridden mother doesn't mind. She likes it warm. Lately, however, control over the thermostat has become a nasty struggle. And each morning that she's still alive is a suffocating new challenge for Raymond. How high can the mercury climb before he boils over? Jesse Kellerman's Controller is part of Warmer, a collection of seven visions of a conceivable tomorrow by today's most thought-provoking authors. Alarming, inventive, intimate, and frightening, each story can be read, or listened to, in a single breathtaking sitting.
#mybookfeatures #bookstagrammer #bookstagramit #bookstagram #bibliophile #booksaremylife #bookasthetic #booktalk #readingtime #booklove #bookphotography #bookrecs #bookish #readingcommunity #readaholic #instabooks #bookcollector #bookcollection #bookhaul #bookcommunity #bookstack #bookaholic #booklover #bookaddict #readinglife #bookshelf #bookrecommendations #bookreview #controller #jessekellerman
December 25, 2020
I would probably rate this short story higher if I liked stories like "Death of a Salesman". I've never read "Death of a Salesman" but it sounds like a fellow who examines his life and it all seems to be pointless... just like this story.
The story: Raymond has dedicated his life to caring for his bedridden, ungrateful and seemingly crazy mother. They fight for the right to use the "controller," a remote device that tells the house computer what services to provide. Raymond has only guest privileges which means that he cannot adjust the thermostat. Only his mother can do that, and she likes it HOT. She also likes ice cream, so Raymond must search the city for his mother's favorite kind.
Any problems with this story? In terms of drama, not really. It might have been a little plainer that the remote control was more advanced than one might assume, but otherwise, this story will probably win a literary award. It's not the author. It's me. I didn't like the subject.
Any modesty issues? There seemed to be some sexual tension between the mother and the son... as if the mother expected her son to take advantage of her, but clearly the son thought that this was ridiculous. However, he did fantasize quite a bit (and unrealistically) about the women he met as he was out getting ice cream for his mother.
I doubt I will read this story again.
The story: Raymond has dedicated his life to caring for his bedridden, ungrateful and seemingly crazy mother. They fight for the right to use the "controller," a remote device that tells the house computer what services to provide. Raymond has only guest privileges which means that he cannot adjust the thermostat. Only his mother can do that, and she likes it HOT. She also likes ice cream, so Raymond must search the city for his mother's favorite kind.
Any problems with this story? In terms of drama, not really. It might have been a little plainer that the remote control was more advanced than one might assume, but otherwise, this story will probably win a literary award. It's not the author. It's me. I didn't like the subject.
Any modesty issues? There seemed to be some sexual tension between the mother and the son... as if the mother expected her son to take advantage of her, but clearly the son thought that this was ridiculous. However, he did fantasize quite a bit (and unrealistically) about the women he met as he was out getting ice cream for his mother.
I doubt I will read this story again.
July 22, 2021
This is part of the Amazon Originals Warmer series, which I read via my kindle unlimited subscription and luckily didn't purchase.
First, I'm glad that I did not pay for this story. There was nothing likeable about the characters or even the plot. While it did stick to the shared theme with the other books in the series- climate change - it just fell flat for me. Do people work? Why are grocery stores policed? Why is the only thing he buys in any store ice cream?! Do they not eat anything else?
The mother is a lying, mentally unstable, controlling beyond belief woman who chooses to punish her son by keeping the temperature in the house over 90 degrees. The temps outside are in the 90 degrees or higher. And this is in WINTER.
He has no redeeming qualities, cannot stand up for himself, does something horrifying and doesn't seem to care. He lacks a spine and it really was off-putting.
I'm hoping the next few books are much better than this.
First, I'm glad that I did not pay for this story. There was nothing likeable about the characters or even the plot. While it did stick to the shared theme with the other books in the series- climate change - it just fell flat for me. Do people work? Why are grocery stores policed? Why is the only thing he buys in any store ice cream?! Do they not eat anything else?
The mother is a lying, mentally unstable, controlling beyond belief woman who chooses to punish her son by keeping the temperature in the house over 90 degrees. The temps outside are in the 90 degrees or higher. And this is in WINTER.
He has no redeeming qualities, cannot stand up for himself, does something horrifying and doesn't seem to care. He lacks a spine and it really was off-putting.
I'm hoping the next few books are much better than this.
June 26, 2023
Big misery in a small package! This story is like a prequel to “Psycho” in a horribly imaginable near future. Even if he weren’t in thrall to his demanding, delusional, manipulative mother, Raymond (yes that’s almost an anagram of Norman) would have a barely livable life… a small cramped house, temperatures that make it dangerous to go outside for more than a short trip to the superstore where security guards patrol the freezer aisles to keep you from lingering in the cold air of an open door. At home he fights with his mother, trying to make her share control of the voice-operated a/c remote.
At the risk of over-reading, it feels like an allegory for the climate crisis itself - Mother creates and controls the house’s unbearable climate, while the son lives in misery and struggles to accommodate. His life is chaos and cleaning up after frequent disasters.
I can’t decide if Mother is Mother Nature, or if she’s the human generation(s) that can’t/won’t see the results of her grip on power over the climate. (I prefer the second interpretation). And the son is the younger generation(s) growing up stuck in helplessness and resentment and passivity and blame, with apparently no resources to make things better.
At the risk of over-reading, it feels like an allegory for the climate crisis itself - Mother creates and controls the house’s unbearable climate, while the son lives in misery and struggles to accommodate. His life is chaos and cleaning up after frequent disasters.
I can’t decide if Mother is Mother Nature, or if she’s the human generation(s) that can’t/won’t see the results of her grip on power over the climate. (I prefer the second interpretation). And the son is the younger generation(s) growing up stuck in helplessness and resentment and passivity and blame, with apparently no resources to make things better.
September 16, 2020
Disappointing and not exactly climate related
The story is told in an interesting manner. Unfortunately, it doesn’t quite make the impact that the writer is going for. It feels like he’s trying to do a climate-ized version of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? but he doesn’t quite get it right. I felt let down at the end. The theme of the story is not powerful enough to make me care. (At least in Who’s Afraid the bitterness and rage of the characters is more powerful and the reader/audience is led to understand and empathize with the root causes of their dysfunction.)
Perhaps I’d have enjoyed it more if it weren’t billed as a climate change piece. While the temperature did play a role in the story, it didn’t speak to me as being about climate change in general. Rather, the temperature is a foil for the characters and the relationships between them.
I’d pass on this. If there’s one redeeming quality, it’s that it makes me want to re-read Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? And definitely read it if you haven’t already! There’s also a movie, which I haven’t seen but have heard is quite good!
The story is told in an interesting manner. Unfortunately, it doesn’t quite make the impact that the writer is going for. It feels like he’s trying to do a climate-ized version of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? but he doesn’t quite get it right. I felt let down at the end. The theme of the story is not powerful enough to make me care. (At least in Who’s Afraid the bitterness and rage of the characters is more powerful and the reader/audience is led to understand and empathize with the root causes of their dysfunction.)
Perhaps I’d have enjoyed it more if it weren’t billed as a climate change piece. While the temperature did play a role in the story, it didn’t speak to me as being about climate change in general. Rather, the temperature is a foil for the characters and the relationships between them.
I’d pass on this. If there’s one redeeming quality, it’s that it makes me want to re-read Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? And definitely read it if you haven’t already! There’s also a movie, which I haven’t seen but have heard is quite good!
December 31, 2023
This is the first one in the collection so far that I feel like is what I expected from the collection which is speculative fiction regarding the ramifications of unchecked climate change rather than theory alone and people's feelings about it. I think that Kellerman's almost dystopian prediction of what things will look like when temperatures get so bad that there's the potential for it to be 100+ degrees in January in the northern hemisphere gets the point across well.
I do have one quibble in the sense that while I understand what he was trying to do with the relationship between Raymond and his mother, I feel like it's also missing the fact that older people have trouble self regulating their own temperature and while it did mention some side effects for Therese in her constantly turning the climate control off, I think it missed the mark of how dangerous it can really be. But that wasn't the point, the toxicity of their relationship was the point - this was just something that bugged me as a reader.
I do have one quibble in the sense that while I understand what he was trying to do with the relationship between Raymond and his mother, I feel like it's also missing the fact that older people have trouble self regulating their own temperature and while it did mention some side effects for Therese in her constantly turning the climate control off, I think it missed the mark of how dangerous it can really be. But that wasn't the point, the toxicity of their relationship was the point - this was just something that bugged me as a reader.
December 25, 2018
This is the 3rd book in the Amazon collection of short stories called Warmer. Each story is somehow related to climate change.
The premises of the story is that a son is taking care of his mother who is disabled and unable to take care of herself. She has no control over her life except one thing - controlling the thermostat. The world is warmer now, much warmer, and the battle over the control of temperature in their house becomes a conflict for the story which symbolizes the troubled relationship between the mother and son.
This is a quick read. It might shed some insight on climate change that you might not have thought of before. Warning: you will most likely strongly dislike at least one of the main characters by the end of this story, and that’s ok. But think on it, that dislike combined with the story will help you at the end discover the symbolism hidden in the story.
Please Note: I received a free copy of this book and I am publishing an unbiased review.
The premises of the story is that a son is taking care of his mother who is disabled and unable to take care of herself. She has no control over her life except one thing - controlling the thermostat. The world is warmer now, much warmer, and the battle over the control of temperature in their house becomes a conflict for the story which symbolizes the troubled relationship between the mother and son.
This is a quick read. It might shed some insight on climate change that you might not have thought of before. Warning: you will most likely strongly dislike at least one of the main characters by the end of this story, and that’s ok. But think on it, that dislike combined with the story will help you at the end discover the symbolism hidden in the story.
Please Note: I received a free copy of this book and I am publishing an unbiased review.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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