Stories from two of my favorite authors appear in the same episode of PRI’s Selected Shorts: Aimee Bender’s “Drunken Mimi” and “Death Watch” (read by Bernadette Qugley) and Etgar Keret’s “Your Man” and “Shooting Tuvia” (read by David Rakoff).
Category: Reading
Shortcomings
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Wow, if I’d taken a precious few different turns in life, I might have ended up exactly like the protagonist of this story, Ben. Definitely hit close to home.
This may be the first time, though, that I’ve come across a protagonist I didn’t like. And I’ve read lots and lots of Carver (with whose work Tomine’s is often compared). Yes, the ending of Ben’s story is open to interpretation, but to me it’s pretty clear. Based on what I read, what Ben sees at the end is what he has and maybe all he’ll ever have.
[Note to self: How come I’ve never used this feature from goodreads before???]
We Never Talk About My Brother
The newest edition to my all-time favorite books list is We Never Talk About My Brother by Peter S. Beagle, which is surprising given how long a lot of these pieces are. Remember all the Etgar Keret and Lydia Davis I’d read recently. But the pieces kept me engaged.
The reviews are everywhere. If you’re a goodreads member, you can read some of my story-by-story status updates/reviews.
Light Reading
Not that I didn’t read. I just didn’t read much; was busy writing!! So, please excuse these truncated, unvarnished reviews…
- Carol Emshwiller, “Modillion” (3/5)
- By Etgar Keret…
- “An Exclusive” (How the hell does he cram that story into 9 pages??–5/5)
- “Painting” (4/5)
- “Yordan” (I want to write like this!–5/5)
- “Vacuum Seal” (Like a literary/magical-realist version of Full Metal Jacket–5/5)
“Temptation, frustration, so bad it makes him cry.”
I can never say no to this. I accept that now.
Light Reading (Not!)
I know it looks like I read a fair amount this week. I really didn’t, seeing as the last bunch of stories were flash. So, here’s the roundup.
The first two are from the collection Report to the Men’s Club (from the local library, but I just ordered my own copy).
“Grandma” by Carol Emshwiller. A nice tale that took its time getting to the SF/F element, but was well worth the wait. Not your standard plotted story; it seemed more like a series of vignettes and flashbacks skillfully arranged into a narrative. 5 out of 5.
“The Paganini of Jacob’s Gully” by Carol Emshwiller. You just need to read this! Just do it! It is without a doubt the absolute fucking best lit/genre-blended love story I have ever read! 5 out of 5!
“The Rookers” by Bobbie Ann Mason. Another piece from Shiloh and Other Stories. I’ve took my time reading this one, remembering how well-crafted I remembered the story “Shiloh” was. “The Rookers” didn’t disappoint. Her character and setting descriptions are proof positive that “minimalism” doesn’t mean “2,000 words or less.” While the ending wasn’t as shocking as the one in “Shiloh,” it made me think just as hard. 5 out of 5!
I don’t know why I waited so long to get a copy of The Girl on the Fridge. That was just dumb. Before I knew it, I read these stories in one sitting during my lunch break one day…
“Asthma Attack” by Etgar Keret. Not a story, but it’s the piece that sets a metaphorical rationale for the economic for the economy of word use in rest of the book. Very, very nice. 5 out of 5.
“Crazy Glue” by Etgar Keret. Another valuable lesson for me that fantasy doesn’t have to mean magic and such. 5 out of 5.
“Loquat” by Etgar Keret. Another story involving a grandmother, this is simultaneously a piece on the socio-political complexities of Israeli daily life and on the lengths anyone, anywhere might go to for family. 5 out of 5.
“Hat Trick” by Etgar Keret. Definitely loved the “gonzo magical realism” thing this story had going. Wasn’t too big on the non-ending ending, well-written as it was. 4 out of 5.
Some Light Reading
Through the hustle and bustle of school, trying to fire off stories to markets, and eeking out some new stuff, I’ve been reading like I haven’t been in awhile. I’ve actually read quite a bit since my last set of reviews, but I haven’t had the brainspace to sit and give more than a passing thought to them before now. So, here’s the latest batch.
This first four pieces are from the Trampoline anthology…
“The Force Acting on the Displaced Body” by Christopher Rowe. A journey always makes a great metaphor, especially when a piece is as well-written as this. It’s a good example of something that skirts around the stricter genre definitions of fantasy. No magic as such–that is to say, no wizardry or the like. I guess it’s more on the lines of myth-making. 5 out of 5.
“Well-Moistened with Cheap Wine, the Sailor and the Wayfarer Sing of Their Absent Sweethearts” by Ed Park. Slightly long and slightly too descriptive for this Carver-lover but that’s my issue, not the story’s. The premise of the story more than makes up for it. You could almost call this piece Soft-Science-Fiction. 5 out of 5!
“Angel” by Shelley Jackson. This is the second or third Jackson story I’ve attempted. I really can’t put my finger on why I’ve been less than enthusiastic, thus far. Any idiot can see how good the writing is. I really don’t know what I’m not getting. As far as this piece though, it read like something calculated to be a bizarro, if well-written, version of Raymond Carver’s “So Much Water, So Close to Home.” Still, the writing rules, so 4 out of 5!
“Impala” by John Gonzalez. Straight-up sci-fi joint–almost! Loved it! Gonzalez took a risk with the choice of POV character, but I still found it compelling. 5 out of 5.
“Shiloh” by Bobbie Ann Mason. I searched high and low for a copy of Mason’s collection Shiloh and Other Stories, and finally found one (actually, three) in a second-hand bookstore around me that I didn’t know about until about a month ago. I see why this story’s a classic. Believable characters in a well-structured piece with the least amount of “writing” necessary. What more could a reader want? 5 out of 5.
“The Garden of Time” by J.G. Ballard. Another classic, this from his Best Short Stories. The line between sci-fi and fantasy blurs with this one because of Ballard’s skillful writing. A little light on characterization for me, though. 4 out of 5.
Unvarnished Reviews
I haven’t done one of these in awhile even though I’ve been poring through short story collections, as any survey of my goodreads account will show. But I just had to say something about…
M. Rickert, “Evidence of Love in a Case of Abandonment: One Daughter’s Personal Account” — The Oct/Nov issue of F&SF couldn’t come fast enough because I’ll buy anything with M. Rickert’s name on it. Such is my cultish devotion to her writing. This one didn’t disappoint. I’ve enjoyed some of her other stories more, but this one has some jaw-dropping craftsmanship. I can’t think, off the top of my head, of a story she’s written that this blatantly political. It’s got the tropes of the sort of story I usually can’t stand–a near-future world where certain partisan values have run amok and the citizenry has become generally inured. Even the protagonist. But even though the protag doesn’t rail against the system, she’s not blind. She’s fully aware of the effect the system is having on her and hers. Until she decides that she’s finally going to cope with it all in a way–and this is the best part–that most of us would probably cope. 5 out of 5!
Reading is Fundamental
I haven’t gotten to do any Unvarnished Reviews in awhile. I’ve actually been reading collections fast enough that I haven’t had time enough between books to review every single story I’ve read.
But thanks to goodreads, I can at least tell you what books I’ve finished lately…
“Never Again Is What You Swore the Time Before”
It’s never enough!! I just had to go by the local book crack-house and pile it on.
