Recently, I wanted to explore a contemporary short story collection, since I haven't read anything after "The Refugees" (Nguyen) and "Men without women" (Murakami). Having learned that this was the most acclaimed collection in some lists for 2019 , I decided to read it.
This collection has eight short stories, and seven of the eight stories has a considerable part of either pseudo science (The Tornado Auction, The Bad Graft), fictitious beings, ghosts, werewolves and the like ( Orange World, The Prospectors, Black Corfu), lands with fictional environmental conditions ( Bog Girl), or even a post-calamitous American state (The Gondoliers). There was only one story which doesn't fall under a paranormal setting, but it had characters from a well known novel - with the greyhound of the main character in that novel, a certain Emma Bovary - as the main character in our short story. ( This irked me no end, since am yet to read that novel.)
The first short story ends with us not convinced that "The Prospectors" escaped after an all night party with a bunch of young men, who won't be convinced that they've been dead for sometime. How the story is build using post-gold rush era characters was what kept me hooked. There were many themes ( e.g. abuse at home) which are used as conditioners, for the resulting misleading vocation of "prospectors", which the girls picked to describe, what they were doing.
"I'd be a prospector of the prospectors. I'd wait for luck to strike them, and then I'd take their gold."
The short story travels quite a distance to end up with the dead, from where it commenced - if that could looked upon as a failing - a little directionless ? Perhaps. But an enjoyable read all the same.
"The Bad Graft"is one of the better short stories of this collection. Hitting on short takes of fiction, after the long "Overstory", I had to take my time to accept that the pseudoscience was just that. I ended up reading a bit on the Joshua tree ( and even on how U2 selected that as a title for their hit album).
“During a season of wild ferment, a kind of atmospheric accident can occur: the extraordinary moisture stored in the mind of a passing animal or hiker can compel the spirit of a Joshua to Leap through its own membranes. The change is metaphysical: the tree’s spirit is absorbed into the migrating consciousness, where it lives on, intertwined with its host”
The story works, given the unsettled mind of the girl ( which syncs totally with the season of wild ferment), and the early stage of a commitment that the young lovers find themselves in, not to mention the total independence that they enjoy, away from their families.
The bog girl is a story which didn't quite connect with me. The level of fantasy, and the extent of how much every one tolerates the out of the ordinary ( a corpse of a girl from the iron age, as the partner for a 15 year old boy ), makes one wonder what it is all about. The only reasoning I could approximate was the age of political correctness and tolerance, that we are in. It also resonates with the thought that the boy just wanted the "thought"of having a girl, and "someone" (?) to have his way with - a feminist interpretation if that is what it is inclines towards.
Not withstanding my not having read the novel, "Madame Bovary's Greyhound" is another better short story of this collection. The lack of love that the bitch felt ( Emma was trying to love her husband - a task which left her tired and listless) at her home, where she had no shortage of food, contrasted with the simple minded "Hubert" who healed her, and cared for her, is presented in a way that leaves a deep etch in the reader's mind.
By some trick - maybe just from experience - I realised on first reading that the gobbledygook has to be read, but not explored in The Tornado Auction. But it provides an important 'climate', for the story to take root. The essence is that tornadoes and such weather patterns are harm harvested, and the beauty of the whole piece is that that the authoress has treated it with an ipso facto kind of conviction, that the reader too is more engrossed in the mental state of the old man (the main character) in his solitude, rather than how absurd his own tornado sounds.
"Live long enough, and your life becomes your own to gamble with again"
I enjoyed the short story with faint memories of the long empty landscapes that Dorthy (i.e. Wizard of Oz) lived in, in the animated TV series running on as background. The story ends with a reminder that as long you are loved, you are not quite recklessly free to gamble.
Black Corfu is where the authoress takes on the subject of discrimination - as a hard working doctor loses everything that he has worked for - he loses his credibility, his own confidence. The man so devout to his profession, forsakes his own family's love, as what he wants is confirmation of their belief in his ability as a "posthumous doctor", and not unconditional love. That werewolves are used as "useful beings to build the case", is again one of those things, which the reader accepts and continues toward the more important things that Karen has to say. The authoress may have been trying to portray that mistakes have differences price tags, depending on your ethnic background.
In a post natural disaster hit Florida, we come across four girls who are "echolocators", who live among the ruins - "poling the canals of New Florida". Pollution is the new normal for these girls as they earn a living taking people on their "Gondoliers". The whole story has a feel of a post-apocalyptic life, and although the ending is again, inconclusive, the ride on the gondolier is enjoyable.
For a parent, the surety that their offspring is safe is the most precious assurance in this world. I myself am guilty of resorting to religious belief when it comes to my children's safety, while I scorn the same beliefs elsewhere. One simply doesn't take a chance, however far fetched it may be to danger. Hence the story which gave the name to this book hit me at a very personal level, as Rae struggles with the Red world ( a troubled pregnancy) , compromises towards a Orange world ( with a devil on the bargain ) battling it out for the safety of her child, and finally arrives to a green world - the arrival at which she finally understands her own mother fully.
Not withstanding the unusual setup that almost all of these tales operate in, I enjoyed the reading experience and wouldn't hesitate to recommend this to fellow readers looking for shorter doses of fiction.
genre - fantasy/short stories
year published - 2019
rating - ****
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