ON THE YANKEE STATION: Stories

by William Boyd ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 23, 1984

Boyd, the British author of a fine comic novel (A Good Man in Africa) and a fair irony-of-war novel (An Ice-Cream War), is still--on the evidence of this ragged debut collection--a novice short-story writer. Of the 15 pieces here the two most effective are episodes involving the seedy diplomat-hero of A Good Man in Africa, Morgan Leafy: in ""Next Boat from Douala,"" the often-amoral Morgan shows a streak of decency, passing up a lustful one-night stand for medical (V.D.) reasons; in ""The Coup,"" sudden political changes throw Morgan into a strange affair--but then rescue him when his new bedmate becomes a clinging vine. And ""Hardly Ever,"" about prep-school boys and sex, is also engaging in an unpretentious, amused vein. Elsewhere, however, Boyd offers obvious psychological vignettes, strained themes-with-variations, sticky sentimentality, and dollops of artsiness. ""The Care and Attention of Swimming Pools"" is an arch Raymond Carver imitation. ""Killing Lizards"" is a painfully spelled-out Oedipal anecdote. There are thumbnail sketches of abnormal psychology, a predictable mini-mystery, earnest coming-of-age tales, an unfortunate venture into metafiction à la Gordon Lish--plus the lumbering title story, about the mutual-hate relationship between a US lieutenant in Vietnam and a member of his ground crew. Boyd does reaffirm some of his technical gifts: he writes better American dialogue than most Britishers; the narration is often lean and sharp. But, except for those agreeable out-takes from A Good Man in Africa, the stories here seem workmanlike at best, highly derivative, and lacking in distinctive shape or tone.

Pub Date: July 23, 1984

ISBN: 0375705112

Page Count: -

Publisher: Morrow

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1984

Categories: FICTION