Smith, Smythe, What's the Difference? by Rob Burns

About the book

Smith-Smythe is a comic, yet dark adventure of a man in his 30's, who must wrestle with "gifts" that have been passed to him by his dad. Ted Smythe, the father, is obsessed with unsolvable verbal math problems, and he has a very short temper. The son and main character, Ed Smythe, is confounded by these gifts and ultimately must learn to deal with these afflictions. Through his dad, Ed learns to butt heads with authority figures (the police) and with service-sector individuals who feel they must fully exercise their miniscule realms of authority.

Ed's mother, Gloria, is a down-to-earth, strong-willed character who is supportive of Ed's dad and of Ed. Even when Ed's dad is on the wrong side of the law, as he often is, she fully supports him and confronts his oppressors. Ed learns, in part from his mother and then from his wife, not to back down, but over time he is overwhelmed. On a job interview trip from Chicago to Pittsburgh, Ed does "battle" with the police, the car rental agency, the airport staff, hotel clerks, airline passengers, and even his prospective, new employer.

Smith-Smythe scrapes away a thin layer of civility to expose what lies just beneath the surface; what people think and want to say but don't. It describes the helpless cycles in which Americans find themselves all too often. Ed feels "harassed" by everyone; he is continually called Ted Smith when he is actually Ed Smythe. The various service-sector people who confront him in their positions of "power" are too lazy to do their jobs properly, to handle their very specific business which ultimately is Ed's business.

Ed's wife, Sue, is constantly "in his head" as she urges him on, to get the job. Ed refers to his dad's math problems as airmath, and he can't help but pose these absurd problems to himself, when he runs innocently enough into people who should do their jobs and help him along his way, but, no, they don't. In a half-assed effort to change who he is, and therefore the constant harassment he endures, he can't stop himself from stealing the driver's license of a stranger named Ted Smith.

As it turns out, Ed's identity, his spot in the world, is important to only himself and to his wife. Ed is helped immeasurably by this attractive, practical, strong-willed woman, and by her love for him. In the end, Ed's search to find himself and to be at peace with who he is meets with success.

About the author

Rob Burns has worked for a number of years as a writer and editor of technical material relating to the energy field; much of this work has involved producing documents for various regulatory agencies and for marketing and sales efforts. In addition, he has worked as an English instructor. He received a MFA degree from Bowling Green State University in Ohio.

Rob Burns lives on the Eastern Shore of Maryland with his wife Pru and their six cats. He is working on his next novel, a mystery.