Michelangelo's Shoulder

"Michelangelo's Shoulder" by John Moncure Wetterau is a grouping of connected tales from the early 2000s that looks at love, losing things, and making art, all through different people's lives, placed against a background of nature and thinking about things. Wetterau's way of telling stories carefully ties together the hard parts of human relationships, the small details of wanting to be an artist, and how these things affect where people end up in life. We meet characters like Don, an artist dealing with not feeling sure about himself and his relationships with Ruby and Lorna, while also trying to make it in the art world. The story moves forward through quiet moments of thinking, meetings that show personal struggles, and the search for being known as an artist. Others, such as Charlie and Margery face old memories and the heavy feelings connected to family. Each piece shares a feeling of searching for something—whether it's love, understanding, or feeling complete—catching the quickness of living and the deep wish to find meaning by making art and connecting with others.