REVIEWS
REVIEWS FOR PIE IN THE SKY AND OTHER ILLUSIONS WE LIVE WITH
In an era of glossy self-help and curated personas, R. Luce’s “Pie in the Sky and Other Illusions We Live With” arrives as a jagged, necessary corrective. This is a structural autopsy of the American Dream, performed through a sophisticated blend of fiction, poetry, drama, and raw memoir. Luce targets the "illusions" we cling to: work, family, and justice, and exposes the hollow spaces where those promises often fail to materialize.
Luce’s versatility is the collection's greatest strength. By moving between the internal monologue of a blocked writer and the epic, blood-soaked history of a West Virginia coal strike, the author suggests that whether our struggles are private or systemic, the root cause is often the same: a fundamental gap between cultural ideals and lived reality. The prose is unflinching, favoring a grit-under-the-fingernails realism that demands the reader look directly at the discomfort.
The collection opens with intimate portraits of isolation. In pieces like "Mark LaZar," Luce captures the paralysis of self-doubt and the quiet tragedy of being unable to accept intimacy even when it’s offered. This theme of compromised choices takes a darker, more visceral turn with Will Beesom. Waking in a freezing trailer after a drug-fueled haze, Will’s betrayal of Elma Worthing, a woman who offers him nothing but kindness, serves as a searing indictment of how desperation can erode the moral compass.
The centerpiece of the collection is a sweeping narrative of the 1903 West Virginia coal strikes. Here, Luce excels at historical drama, pitting union leaders like Moze Bridges and Josiah Wheeler against a machinery of corporate greed and state-sanctioned violence.
The depiction of the "pre-dawn" massacre is particularly haunting. Luce doesn't just focus on the politics of the strike; he focuses on the bodies, specifically the targeting of Black miners like Sam and the ultimate destruction of the Bridges family. This section serves as a powerful reminder that the "justice" we are promised is often contingent on the color of one's skin or the depth of one's pockets.
Luce’s "family drama" sections are perhaps the most relatable and painful. Through the Graysons, we see a family not as a sanctuary, but as a site of suppressed grievances and long-term abuse. The confrontation led by Ben and Ginny against years of parental neglect and marital violence is cathartic but avoids easy sentimentality. These stories suggest that breaking an illusion often requires breaking a relationship.
The collection concludes with a shift into nonfiction, where the author’s own history, one marked by poverty, an alcoholic father, and failed marriages, provides the emotional backbone for the preceding fiction. The writer’s visit to a father lost to dementia is a masterclass in restrained grief.
Crucially, the book ends not with a "pie in the sky" promise of a heavenly afterlife, but with a firm rejection of it. Luce argues that if we spend our lives waiting for a reward in the next world, we fail to demand justice and meaning in this one.
Pie in the Sky and Other Illusions We Live With is a heavy, challenging, and deeply rewarding read. It is tailor-made for an adult audience that values literary complexity and isn't afraid to see the darker corners of the American experience reflected on the page. Luce has crafted a work that is as much a manifesto as it is a literary achievement.
--Falcon Review, May 14, 2026
https://www.printedwordreviews.com/bookreviews/979-8992220278
5*- Real Struggles, Many Genres, One Collection
Fourteen-year-old Dave and his eight-year-old brother Luke return home from school filled with childhood bliss as they race to the door of a visibly neglected home. As they call out to their father to let him know that they have returned home, they are met with a quiet house; no response from their father. Dave then makes his way to the garage and is hit with a traumatic discovery that changes his life forever. His childhood, as he knew it, ended at that very moment.
This short story is called “Abdication” from the book Pie in the Sky and Other Illusions We Live With by R. Luce. It is one of my favorites from his collection. It beautifully touches on emotional neglect, mental health, tragic loss, and the heartbreaking realities of older siblings having to grow up too fast. While the collection is filled with short stories like this one, it also reaches across other genres.
Another story I found compelling was a psychological mystery style short story called “Jimmy Valens.” It is about a murder scene and a nineteen-year-old farm boy suspect who is difficult to read. The book further expands with thought-provoking poetry that confronts political themes like the parallels of Nazi Germany and modern authoritarianism, and a play about family issues and dynamics with LGBTQ+ representation. These are just a few selections from a much larger, well-written multi-genre collection.
Although all these pieces varied in plot and themes, they all deal with real human struggles and deep psychological explorations. It is worth noting that some of these stories can be triggering as they explore human experiences that might can come across as dark or taboo, such as suicide, racism, and homophobia, but I personally think that it was dealt with in a manner that showed both sensitivity and realism.
If you are looking to find a book that weaves real psychological human struggles, history, and cultural and political commentary into interesting and engaging plots, I highly recommend picking up Luce’s Pie in the Sky and Other Illusions We Live With.
--Reviewed by Sonia Vazquez for Reader Views (05/2026)
