A gem of a second collection from an immensely promising writer of unmistakably original—and distinctively...
Twelve new fictions, notable for their stylistic grace and captivating selection of incident, by the author of Fitting Ends (stories: 1995).
In imagining other lives we discover the gift of empathy, these tales suggest, yet dwelling too hard or too long on other people’s experiences may lead to erasure of the self. Indeed, Chaon’s characters often seem to be renewable variations of a single personality, inevitably egocentric and selfish, but he presents these traits as the curse of the hapless dreamer. Here, dreams do not waft up out of idle enchantments and lazy afternoons; they struggle forth, life rafts offering rescue to mauled and sinking adults, usually in their 30s, who recall the genesis of their dreaming in troubled childhoods. In the title story, a car bearing an entire family disappears near a lakeside summer cabin occupied by a boy and his mother; months later, the vehicle is discovered mysteriously intact at the bottom of the lake. This eerie incident teaches the boy about the final ineffability of his world and of his own family. In another fine piece, “I Demand to Know Where You Are Taking Me,” a woman’s brother-in-law, Wendell, is convicted of rape after her lawyer husband fails to successfully defend him. The couple agrees to store Wendell’s belongings until an appeal can be made, and the foul language of his parakeet, Wild Bill, prompts the wife’s doubt about Wendell’s innocence. The volume’s brilliant centerpiece, “Big Me,” involves Andy’s childhood spying on his neighbor, a man the child is convinced represents his future self. Andy makes notes on how to avoid becoming this distasteful man and is eventually caught snooping; the moment when the neighbor reads his life, inscribed in Andy’s notebook, as a foretelling of the boy’s is a breathtaking arrangement, a renewal of fiction’s special power. Chaon’s work is especially notable for his casually precise prose and deep intelligence for the resonant scene.
A gem of a second collection from an immensely promising writer of unmistakably original—and distinctively rewarding—literary gifts.Pub Date: July 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-345-44162-1
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2001
The tough-guy realism and casual nihilism of Thom Jones, Denis Johnson, and Larry Brown (among others) is finding its expression in a second generation of new writers who often sacrifice the subtleties of language for the perfection of the pose. Such is the case with first-timer Lattimore. A typical Lattimore character will wonder out loud if we start life doomed or work our way there. Such white-trash philosophes include the aging slacker of the title story, who tried work once, didn't like it, and now lives in an inherited house with a young boy abandoned by his father, who doesn't seem to be returning any time soon. The depths of meanness surface in ``Dogs,'' in which the narrator recalls locking a friend in a cage and peeing on him; long-simmering anger is the ``sport'' of ``Family Sport''; here, the narrator's mother is losing touch with reality, and her father is not taking the change well. Cruelty is at the black heart of ``My Best Day Was the Third Grade,'' a rich man's memory of his childhood nastiness. The expectant father of ``Answer Me This'' considers splitting, then ends up in a fight at a 711. The result of disappearing parents is seen in ``Jarheads,'' about the son of a battered many-times married mom who makes some unlikely friends; and in ``Separate States,'' about a confused girl who lives with her long-gone mother's ex-husband, an uncommonly good dad, it turns out. The long ``Between Angels'' strikes a surprisingly slapstick note—it's the comic tale of a gangster's quest for proof of the existence of God as revealed by the Ark of the Covenant, supposedly stored in an L.A. warehouse. More tales from loserville by a promising, if somewhat derivative, newcomer.
Pub Date: Oct. 20, 1997
ISBN: 0-395-85407-5
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1997
Four stories and a novella, linked by their depictions of conflict, mostly racial, in a second collection from McKnight (after The Kind of Light That Shines on Texas, 1992). There's nothing particularly distinctive about McKnight's storytelling, though he tries for affect with first-person narratives. Still, the voices here all sound alike, though two shorter pieces—``He Sleeps'' and ``Palm Wine''—do seem to be told by the same character. Both concern an African-American researcher in Senegal who's collecting proverbs for his dissertation in folklore. In the first, he finds himself dreaming fecund narratives that reflect both the sexual mess he left back home and the torrid lovemaking he overhears in the next room. His retellings, though, are deflated by his native guide, who reminds him that dreams mean only one thing—you're asleep. The narrator's increasing frustration with the Senegalese leads to a lot of bad vibes (and defeats any sense of Roots-y solidarity). In the latter story, his quest for the legendary native elixir leaves the teller where he began: queasy, suspicious, and angry. The slangier narrators of ``The More I Like Flies'' and ``Boot'' complain about life stateside. The first is told by a young black civil servant who works in the Air Force Academy kitchen and resents his co-workers for their lack of sympathy and, once, their racial commentaries. Race matters less in ``Boot,'' about hierarchical conflict in the military and the narrator's regret that he sided with a whiny complainer rather than with his D.I. The long title piece explores interracial life on an Air Force base in Louisiana, where a bootstraps-and-stern-minded African-American family moves next to a white family whose racial attitudes are far more confused than anyone realizes, including a legacy of miscegenation, lust, do- gooderism, and simple friendship, all coming out in twisted fashion. Cultural conflict and racial wounds: McKnight sounds few unusual notes in this competent if not compelling volume.
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-8050-4829-4
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1997
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