The Loneliness of Being Human

Book Review: Barbara the Slut and Other People by Lauren Holmes

It actually takes more skill to write a good short story than one might think. It takes a fair amount of linguistic skill to pack a complete story into a small space. It is not simply a matter of condensing a novel, a la "Reader's Digest"; such stories read like book reports and are about as enlightening. Other authors appear to simply lift a chapter from an incomplete novel, starting you off in the middle of a story and then leaving you there as well.

I suppose the best analogy is that if a novel is the equivalent of a full color oil painting, then the short story is a sketch; all the main points are there - the subject is clear, but the background details are left to the reader's mind to fill in. The rest of the picture is suggested, but not fully drawn.

Barbara the Slut and Other People supplies several examples of short story writing at its best - if not yet at a master level then certainly a skilled apprentice. We are presented with ten sketches of individuals, mostly young women, who are doing their best to cope with the demands of the lives that they find themselves in. In some cases these are the results of choices they have made, and in others simply the circumstances of life.

In either case, the subjects of Ms. Holmes' literary efforts must make the same choice we all must make: accept their lives as they stand, or make an attempt to change them. Therein lies the crux of the human dilemma, the "to be or not to be" that is the source of, as Ms. Holmes puts it, "the loneliness of being human." For all the guidance we may get, for all of the well-meaning advice from family and friends and books, it falls upon each of us individually to make that decision.

Despite this common theme, the examples in Barbara the Slut are as different as they can be, providing a cross section of individuals from various backgrounds, and they each deal with their individual circumstances in individual ways. A solid debut work.

If Jackson Pollock Could Write

Book Review: Big Lonesome by Joseph Scapellato

The artist Jackson Pollock was famous for his "action paintings", in which he would tack a large canvas to the floor and drip, splatter, and smear paint across it's entire surface. It was the act of painting that was important, not what (if anything) the painting showed.

His work was performance art, using paint as a medium. He even went to the extent of titling his paintings by number, rather than assigning names, to avoid preconceptions by the viewer.

There are people that can look at a Jackson Pollock painting and see something, who are able to coalesce the random spattering of paint into a theme or a concept or even a scene. Personally I believe this is more a function of their own consciousness, not the intent of the artist. For Pollock, the activity of painting was more important than what was being painted.

Joseph Scapellato's collection of short stories, Big Lonesome, swings between episodes of the real ("Immigrants", "Company"), to random gatherings of words, dripped onto pages apparently left lying on the floor ("Horseman Cowboy"). In the first case, the object is clear to anyone that reads it. In the second case, the reader's ability to discern a message may rely more on wishful thinking and a desire to see something where nothing exists. The mere act of putting words (or paint) on paper does not automatically make it art, or provide it with meaning.

At its best, Big Lonesome provides us with a montage of dispirited characters, coping with the small, individual loneliness that is human existence, and he manages to do it in a distinctive and incisive manner. The "surreal" bits in between intrude into this fabric, but without the redeeming quality of providing a counterpoint. They seem to exist simply to create a perception of artistic merit, but instead appear more like 'Magic Eye' paintings that have been hung among the Masters in an art gallery. If you squint your eyes and tilt your head just right, you may see something, but in the end it diverts and distracts rather than enlightens.

Dogs Will be Dogs

Book Review: Dancing Dogs by Jon Katz

"It is well to bear in mind that the truth about dogs is as elusive as the truth about man. You cannot put your finger on any quality and safely say, 'This is doglike,' nor on any other quality and say, 'This is not.' Dogs are individualists." - James Thurber

What made James Thurber the quintessential writer of dog stories is that his dog tales are as individual as the tail on a dog. Although all are written in the inimitable Thurber style, the resemblance ends there. From Muggs to Rex, Medve to Jeannie, the stories of Thurber's Dogs are as unique as the dogs themselves. Thurber's dogs are allowed to have their own character, and characters they are. They are not larger than life, but they are very much alive, and Thurber's love and respect for both the dogs and their stories shows clearly in the telling.

Which brings me (belatedly) to Dancing Dogs, my introduction to the work of author Jon Katz. Based only on this single work, I am not about to put him in the same rank as James Thurber, but at its best Dancing Dogs does evoke the spirit of Thurber; if for no other reason that Katz lets his dogs be dogs.

In case you missed the fact that the book is clearly classified as "Literature and Fiction" and a collection of short stories, let me make it clear: this is a collection of fictional short stories. Apparently this was not clear to several reviewers who detest short stories and dislike fiction. I would assume these are the same people who acquire a dog hoping that it will become something else: the child they never had, an obedient slave, or a target for anger and frustration. It is a tribute to the dogs that they will unquestioningly attempt to become that other thing, in the process becoming as neurotic as their owner.

Over the several thousand years that man and dog have shared existence, the dog has become more than just another domestic animal. The dog's close association with mankind has not always been to their benefit, but it has certainly given them insight into what makes people tick. In Dancing Dogs, Katz delves into this wonderful and mysterious relationship in which dogs and humans become more than just man and beast. Not all dogs are perfect, neither are all humans, but together they are capable of transcending those limitations to reflect the better side of each.

What makes a story true is not whether it is fiction or non-fiction, but rather the veracity of what it shows us about ourselves. With 7 billion people and a billion dogs on this planet, can anyone say that any of Katz's stories has not 'really' happened? More importantly, does it matter? The characters in Dancing Dogs are enlightened and enriched by the relationship forged between man and dog over the millennia; based on my own life I know this to be true, and Jon Katz brings this truth home in a series of (short) stories that capture the beauty, joy, and unvarnished reality that a dog can bring to our lives.

A Collection of Pieces and Parts

Book Review: Problems with People by David Guterson

I love short stories. There ... I said it.

It started with Steinbeck, but branched out into Hemingway, Kipling, and Edgar Allan Poe; then on to Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers - I was hooked. Detective stories, science fiction, horror ... pick a genre. They are short, sharp, succinct; something that you can read in a sitting but that can stay with you for a lifetime ("The Tell-Tale Heart", "The Snows of Kilimanjaro").

David Guterson is a skillful writer; I especially enjoy his crafting of dialog. There is no shortage of excellent writing in the ten stories that comprise Problems with People. Yet somehow, the great writing does not seem to jell into great stories. At times I felt as if I was reading a character sketch, or a chapter randomly lifted from another book. I appreciate that the short story puts constraints on an author in terms of character development and plotting, however "short" should not mean fragmentary - there still needs to be a story.

At times, especially in the stories "Shadow" and "Hush", Guterson is almost there. I did not have that same feeling with those as I did with the remaining stories - that this was a longer work with some pieces left out, like a badly edited newspaper story. Guterson's use of the language approaches poetry at times, and can be a joy to read, the words like fine wine on the tongue. The pieces within the stories are very well done, sadly the parts don't come together as a whole.

The Craftwork of H.P. Lovecraft

Book Review: H.P. Lovecraft: The Complete Fiction by H. P. Lovecraft, edited by S. T. Joshi

I received H.P. Lovecraft: The Complete Fiction as a gift from my son; it is truly one of those gifts that keeps on giving.

My previous exposure to Lovecraft was limited to a short story here or there in a horror anthology, so obviously I am not a hardcore Lovecraft (or horror fiction) aficianado. Whether or not this is truly the 'complete' fiction of Lovecraft (this seems to be a matter of disagreement by fans) I am likewise in no position to judge. However there are some truly stellar aspects of this collection that I would like to share.

The brief introduction at the beginning of each piece by editor S.T. Joshi was a nice addition. Generally a short paragraph giving a bit of background on the piece, it helps place the work in the continuum of Lovecraft's writing career. I did not feel that they contained any major 'spoilers', but rather discussions of stylistic forms, date of first publication, and notes of interest such as rejection by a certain publisher. As a novice Lovecraft reader I found them helpful.

The book takes you more or less chronologically through Lovecraft's work, rather than grouping the stories by style or subject. I enjoyed being able to see how the author evolved over the course of his apprenticeship into the craftsman he was to become. You can see how other authors influenced him, and how he truly learned by doing, integrating ideas from his previous works into what became the Cthulu mythos.

This is a heavy book, in subject as well as mass, so it's not one to read nonstop in the course of a few days. This has held the place of honor on my nightstand for months, to be tasted in discreet and enjoyable morsels, mulled over and digested, then tasted again. It has certainly brought some interesting color to my dreams.