by Ella Beckham

Created on: August 12, 2011

          I find the most helpful kind of book review, the one that has nothing to do with the context of actual book. I mean truly the most interesting insight will come from a person who has not even cracked open the actual book! Some might call it laziness, I call it brilliance.

         A can of worms is so much more than appears on the surface. When you have a physical can overflowing with the Earths soil and you see the worms crawling around, intertwined; dancing together as one, you immediately think of the close ties that must be going on in that individual community. So without even so much as cracking open this book I can already tell you that "A can of Worms" will most definitely be about the closeness of a close knit group of folks and the unique bonds formed within. But just like that can of worms, the people must be emptied out of their “can” and they must be released into the world where they can catch “bigger fish”.  The very fact that Jon Seawright would use the metaphor of worms is a quite crucial detail in understanding the book.

        Worms, to most people, don’t seem like too fascinating of creatures. Most people believe that they just spend most of their lives wiggling around in the dirt, without a care in the world. However, what is interesting to note is that worms are blind. They are blind to light; therefore they cannot judge something by its physical appearance. Now, to be blind is not to be ignorant but it is to simply appreciate the beauty of one’s worth without the deception of an illusively beautiful image. Thus, what a can of worms truly represents in Seawrights book is not a tangled mess of non-animals. Instead, it represents a community of people that are not about to judge a book based on its cover. Rather, this can of “worms” will be thoughtful in its decision about another human being.

          However, just like when a fisherman is quick to empty a can of worms and separate its contents to catch different fish, this can of worms in Seawrights book will also be emptied in order to reel in bigger fish. What this could mean is that each individual within his created community will be spread out to different corners of the universe; all of them working individually to spread the beauty of not judging one by their projected image; but rather taking the time to get to know the human worth inside each image.

         The can of worms will be emptied and the can will be tossed out but their story will be beautifully told in Jon Seawrights, A Can of Worms: A Collection of Short Stories.

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