Literary Innovation in David Foster Wallace's 'Good Old Neon' (2004)

Good Old Neon is my favorite thing written by David Foster Wallace.

'Good Old Neon' is an abnormal story. There is a narrator who talks a great deal about his life and the problem of feeling like a fraud. The bulk of this 41-page story is told in the first person. Essentially the narrator feels that his entire life has been nothing more than an attempt to fabricate an impression of himself for other people. I imagine that many intelligent people have experienced the same problem in their lives.

I would not call this story uplifting but there are several hilarious moments. One of my favorites is the narrator's laundry list of all the things he has tried to combat his problem:

"EST, riding a ten-speed to Nova Scotia and back, hypnosis, cocaine, sacro-cervical chiropractic, joining a charismatic church, jogging, pro bono work for the Ad Council, meditation classes, the Masons, analysis, the Landmark Forum, the Course in Miracles, a right-brain drawing workshop, celibacy, collecting and restoring vintage Corvettes, and trying to sleep with a different girl every night for two straight months."

I can't help but think that Wallace himself has tried many of these things himself. When you're depressed, it makes sense to try different activities to relieve your depression. I'm sure many of us can attest to trying a few of these activities. I've tried right-brain drawing, meditation and volunteering for a non-profit. Personally I've found meditation to be the most effective.

While re-reading Good Old Neon, I couldn't help but feel a bit disgusted at the narrator. He's not likable and its hard to read 41-pages that feel almost copied verbatim from his mind. It's a frustrating story to read because of its length and the reprehensible actions of the narrator. I was carried through by my interest in psychology since the narrator is prone to explaining things in a very no-nonsense manner.

One of the most bizarre aspects of this story involves the narrator and his relationship to a character named David Wallace. Without giving away anything, there is shift in perspective in the final few pages that caused me to reconsider the entire story in a new light. This shift is also what makes me wonder how much of 'Good Old Neon' is taken from Wallace's personal experiences.

I can't say that I recommend that you read 'Good old Neon' or any of the stories in Oblivion. I will say that this is one of the most thought-provoking things I have ever read. If there's one thing to applaud in Wallace's work, it's the innovative experimental nature of works such as this. The only thing I can think to compare with 'Good Old Neon' is Dostoevsky's 'Notes from the Underground.'  These works share a troubled first-person narrator who feels alienated from society. In reading these stories, one feels uneasiness at seeing the thoughts of a disturbed person. It's like these thoughts were never meant to be revealed in the first place.

While I can't say that 'Good Old Neon' is enjoyable, I can say that it is a unique reading experience. The story displays Wallace's tremendous strengths as a writer, making it a good story for aspiring fiction writers to examine.

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The Kiss by Anton Chekhov

In 'The Kiss' by Anton Chekhov several military officers are invited to an aristocrat's house at night to partake in a party. The military officers are worried about going to the party because they recently experienced a similar situation where a rich old dude kept them up all night talking about boring stuff. But this party turns out to be a lot better than that experience. There are women, dancing and drinks at this party which creates an awkward situation for one soldier in particular named Ryabovich. For every other soldier, this is seemingly not an awkward situation. Ryabovich is decribed as shy, modest and undistinguished in comparison to his fellow soldiers.

Ryabovich enters a dark room where he is kissed by a woman who mistakes Ryabovich for another man. This accidental kiss has a profound effect on Ryabovich. In the days following the party, he thinks about the kiss constantly and it gives him something nice to think about while going through the day-to-day of a soldier's routine.

This is basically all there is to the story. There is also the detailed descriptions of scenery that for me exemplify Chekhov's unique writing style. The way that Chekhov describes the setting of his story is similar to a painter. Chekhov uses visual language which allowed me to imagine the story in rich detail. Here is an example:

'The red moon was reflected near the left bank; little ripples ran over the reflection, stretching it out, breaking it into bits, and seemed trying to carry it away...'

Writing such as this is my favorite thing about Chekhov's stories. The scenery is so richly imagined and described that it almost takes precedence over the story. I know that Chekhov was interested in landscape painting and this interest is reflected often in his stories. In a story like 'The Kiss' where the plot is short, I find myself looking more at Chekhov's descriptions to find insight regarding the story.

At the end of the 'The Kiss' we can see a distinct change in Ryabovich's mental state. At first Ryabovich daydreams about the kiss, causing him to feel pleasure while going through his daily routine. But after revealing the incident to his comrades, Ryabovich's emotions change drastically. "And the whole world, the whole of life, seemed to Ryabovich an unintelligible, aimless jest." This character arc left me with a sad feeling regarding this story. It would seem that Ryabovich would be better off without the kiss from the woman because it merely opened his eyes to what his life is lacking. It's the kind of encounter that is so far removed from daily life that it opens one's eyes to how unpleasant life is in comparison to other people. Just a tiny taste of a better life has left Ryabovich in a depressed state. It's the kind of revelation that leads people to abandon their jobs in the search of something better. Indeed the story ends with Ryabovich refusing the next invitation to a party in favor of going to sleep in his tent.

Here are some other things I noticed about the story:

• The story's unique structure. There is one climactic event (the kiss) that takes place early on and the rest of the story examines the effects of this climactic event on the story's protagonist.
• The social obligation that requires wealthy families to invite military officers to their home. It provides a great setup for this story.

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Analysis of 'How to Become a Writer' by Lorrie Moore

Lorrie Moore's 'How to Become a Writer' is narrated in the second person by a character named Francine. The story is told in the style of a self-help column directed to people who want to become writers, but the actual content of the story is extremely personal. Moore seems to be making fun of the idea that there exists a universal path to becoming a writer. The truth is that every writer has experienced their own unique journey and no two writers are alike. The narrator's strategy of presenting her own experience as a path that anyone can take is what gives the story a humorous tone.

This is the first of Moore's stories that I have read. I was drawn to the story by its title and immediately hooked after reading the first sentence: "First try to be anything else." Basically, the best way to become a writer is by trying to become something else.


"You will read somewhere that all writing that all writing has to do with one's genitals. Don't dwell on this. It will make you nervous."

This story is filled with statements like this that seem ludicrous at first but actually contain a deeper truth. Not all writing is completely focused on the writer's genitals but one could argue that the motivation to write often stems from sexual frustration.

 The other idea I found interesting from this story is the concept of writing as a kind of sickness. The narrator states that her obsession with writing causes her to lose weight and she compares being a writer to having polio. The narrator characterizes writing as a bad habit that causes her to lose interest in the more important things in her life. When the narrator reveals to her roommate her grand idea of adapting Moby-Dick, she responds by saying the two of them should go out for drinks. It seems like everyone except for the narrator and the other students in her creative writing classes think of writing as a waste of time. And yet this does not make the narrator any less motivated to write, which gives the narrator a heroic quality. She doesn't care what anyone else thinks and that makes her more attractive to the audience.

By far my favorite part of this story is the ending. Here we see the narrator on a dinner date with a man she describes as having a face like a blank piece of paper. What the narrator means by this is anyone's guess. To me it seems that she is once again relating her own motivation to write to her love life. Earlier Francine admits to using a college boyfriend's sense of humor to generate writing material. This idea was also reinforced when the narrator's roommate states at a cocktail party that the narrator's writing always has to do with her boyfriend. So at the end of the story, Francine remains inclined to use her love interests as fuel for her writing. When the narrator jokes that writing is a lot like having polio, her date responds by saying "interesting" and then by smoothing his arm hairs. This small exchange basically encapsulates society's response to hearing the crazy-sounding ideas of artists. Much of the time, when people with normal lives hear artists speak, they would rather do literally anything else. But people will say anything if they think it will get them laid. We put up with the crazy urges of others because we want them to like us. Lorrie Moore knows better than anyone else that creative writing is a fruitless endeavor 99% of the time. It's a somewhat bleak sentiment to express to an audience of aspiring writers but maybe it's exactly what that audience needs to hear.

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Analysis of 'The Caretaker' by Anthony Doerr

Anthony Doerr is a writer of short stories and novels. Given his tremendous talent as a writer, it is surprising that Doerr is not more well-known. 'The Caretaker' is probably my favorite of his stories. I first read this story several years ago and certain images still linger with me today. This post will analyze key elements of 'The Caretaker' to better understand how the story works.

To begin I will provide a brief plot synopsis of this story.

'The Caretaker' is narrated in the third person by a nameless voice. The protagonist is Joseph Saleeby, a bookkeeper for the Liberian National Cement Company who embezzles a small amount of money each month. Joseph's life is very orderly and regimented until Liberia descends into a civil war that lasts 7 years. Joseph's mother disappears and he leaves his home. He wanders through his country witnessing horror after horror. At one point Joseph shoots a man who may or may not be innocent. Joseph leaves Liberia and finds himself on the Oregon Coast where he is hired as a caretaker by a man named Mr. Twyman. This is where Joseph's actions become more ambiguous and the story increases in complexity.

An Intensity of Detail

To put it simply, Doerr is a master of injecting realistic details into his stories. One could argue that plot is secondary to the detailed descriptions of the objects and things present in the story. Having such an incredible amount of detail brings the story to life and makes imagining the events easier. I imagine that a lot of research went into creating such vivid and realistic descriptions.

Whale Hearts

The defining moment of this story is when Joseph takes it upon himself to bury the hearts of five beached sperm whales. For Joseph, this act is an attempt to atone for the sins he committed in Liberia. It's clear that Joseph has been traumatized. For much of the story, Joseph's actions seem to make very little sense. It's no surprise that Joseph still feels distraught after this difficult act. Perhaps we can look at Joseph's actions in contrast to those of other people who seem to be scavenging whatever they can get from the whales' corpses.

This section of the story almost has a comedic tone to it. I can't help but laugh as Joseph first saws through a decaying whale carcass and then labors to bury them in a massive whole.

"he had told himself it would be like cleaning a fish, but it is completely different - it's more like eviscerating a giant."

This is the kind of thing that would only exist in fiction. What exactly this moment means is still a mystery to me. Joseph feels bad for the whales so he saws through their organs and buries their hearts in a giant whole in the ground.

"The hearts are still there, sitting just beneath the earth, waiting. What good does burying something really do? In nightmares it always manages to dig itself out."

This quote encapsulates what I believe to be the main idea of 'The Caretaker'. Essentially, the idea is that one cannot heal from trauma by burying or neglecting one's emotions. One must face the emotions head on to truly recover. Many of Joseph's decisions stem from a desire to bury his emotions deep within like whale hearts in the dirt. Joseph has this realization and then strategically pivots to burying things that will grow such as seeds.

I find 'The Caretaker' to be truly remarkable but also kind of a bummer to read. I read fiction because I am obsessed with stories and figuring out how they work and I can't help but see 'The Caretaker' as somewhat disappointing. The majority of time is spent with a deeply traumatized man as he labors without any reward. The story's ending does contain some hope as Joseph learns that he can go back to Liberia, but what good is that when Joseph's entire life there has been destroyed?

Ultimately 'The Caretaker' serves to engage readers with an alternate version of reality. Few things in the story make sense and that is okay. Fiction creates experiences that not good or bad. They are simply experiences.

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Analysis of 'Television' by Lydia Davis

Lydia Davis is known for her experimental stories that are often quite compact. She experiments with form more than any other contemporary writer. 'Television' is a four-page exploration of what television does for people watching it and how television makes life better.

Imagery

In describing what is on TV, the narrator uses vivid imagery. There are zombies, a woman with a pearl necklace, a mother with bad teeth, a father with a broad smile. The images we see on television are so realistic that reality becomes secondary. Or perhaps reality is filtered through the medium of television, but it is always someone else's reality. The voyeurism of watching television is what makes it so appealing but this would not be possible without the realistic and vivid pictures that TV displays.

Unique Structure

'Television' is divided into three distinct sections that are roughly the same length. The first section focuses on the reasons why people watch television. There are many sentence long paragraphs. The second section is also choppy with several paragraphs separated by a single line. The third section contains four longer and connected paragraphs about the narrator's individual experience watching movies late at night. TV becomes an escape for the narrator away from her own life and into other more interesting lives. The many line breaks and transitions has the effect of giving the story a faster pace and it makes the story easy to read. I feel that the structure of the piece is a reflection of the narrator's internal dialogue.

Moral of the Story

After reading this story over a few times, I came to the conclusion that TV is quite helpful. TV seems like the perfect tool for escaping from your own life when it gets stressful and TV also provides entertainment. While the story never explicitly states that TV is good, it can be inferred from statements such as, "there is some real satisfaction in getting this information about the next day's weather" or "they say it will be exciting and it always is"

For a lonely person, television can be a godsend. Rather than waste away doing nothing, TV at least provides a way of killing time that is not entirely useless. For busy people, television is a welcome distraction from the stress and monotony of daily life. Television, when used responsibly, is an amazing tool. If you have been raised your entire life with television, it is incredibly difficult to imagine life without it.

Television is good. This was my takeaway from reading 'Television' by Lydia Davis.

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Vanka by Chekhov - Expressing Humanity through Words on a Page

Today on the blog I am excited to write about Anton Chekhov’s story Vanka. Coming in at five pages, it is incredible how much impact this story has at such a short length. The story is hyper focused on a young boy’s tragic predicament as an apprentice shoemaker under abusive and awful circumstances. The story takes place over one night when the young boy Vanka secretly writes a letter to his grandfather who Vanka remembers in tragic detail.

Perhaps my favorite aspect of Chekhov’s style is his knack for description. It pretty great when you get a sentence like this: “The entire sky is studded with gaily twinkling stars and the Milky Way is as distinctly visible as though it had been washed and rubbed with snow for the holidays.” This sentence is meant to show the clarity and ideal nature of Vanka’s memories of his grandfather. Because Vanka’s life is so awful, it is easy to envision a better life. Vanka is also quite young so he has not had a great deal of formative memories yet. What makes Vanka unable to deal with his current predicament is the fact that he has experienced a better life. The abuse he suffers at the hands of his guardians is utterly abhorrent.

Chekhov is a master of the short story form. As a doctor he mined material for his stories from the many patients he treated. Chekhov’s vocation allowed him to understand the human condition by learning about the lives of many different people. This is why characters in Chekhov’s stories seem so realistic. Every character in Chekhov’s fiction is likely based on a real-life person. This allows Chekhov’s work to serve an important function – it provides readers a mirror with which to base their own lives upon. Chekhov’s work is universal. At some level, all of his characters are dealing with a problem that has been experienced by people all over the world. Vanka’s experience represents the experiences of suffering children through history.

All of Vanka’s attributes are universal. The way looks at the door before writing, how he sighs after remembering a happy moment with his grandfather, the fact that he lacks the knowledge of how to properly address his oh so important letter. These qualities speak so much about this character and his experiences in the world. What makes this story so tragic is the humanity that is expressed through words on a page. Chekhov is arguably the best at pulling this off.

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Lydia Davis - "Five Signs of Disturbance"

"Five Signs of Disturbance is the final "story" in Davis's collection "Break it Down". Similar to other stories in the collection, there is an unnamed narrator and the only character is a "she". Here the "she" is another eccentric type who is easily entranced by inanimate objects. The following is my commentary on Davis's "Five Signs of Disturbance".

I have come to understand that Davis's stories rarely possess a plot. The focus, more often than not, is on character psychology. The narrator usually has unfettered access to characters' minds and uses this power without limit. Language is another central concern of Davis. She likes experimenting with language, testing the meanings of words and creating humorous moments. While I believe it is still somewhat valuable, focusing on narrative in Davis's works misses the point that Davis is more concerned with other things.

In "Five Signs of Disturbance", the main character "she" is sensitive and analytical. Because she is isolated, every little stimuli has a disproportionate effect on her. For example ads involving old people or children tend to make her cry. She is unable to compartmentalize. However I am going to assume that "she" is a very intelligent person or at least very self-aware. At one point the narrator even says that her smartness has counted less and less over the years. This thought belongs to the character and is presented as an objective thought.

There are images in the story alternating with the internal and external descriptions of the character. These images are sometimes separate from the character's experience and sometimes they are part of it. The title of the story refers to five specific stimuli that "she" identifies as particularly disturbing. This speaks to the character's analytical personality. With all the sources of meaning in her life, she still feels compelled to mark some as uniquely disturbing. Perhaps this character was an accountant or a lawyer in a previous life.

If I were to associate this story with one specific idea, I would choose the human tendency to create meaning everywhere. It's human nature to attach meaning to objects based on all sorts of criteria. Often this behavior is more problematic than useful. The characters in Davis's stories can attest to this. The more I read Davis, the more I think of her as a philosopher parading as a fiction writer.

Check out my other posts on the stories "Therapy" and "Break it Down". I am too far down the Lydia Davis rabbit hole to spot now so expect posts on her later works in the future. 

"Therapy" by Lydia Davis

A first person narrator states that she moves to the city just before Christmas. The narrator shares that she has a husband who does not live with her. The narrator has no friends. Her days are spent drinking coffee, smoking and occasionally reading. In the middle of summer, the narrator decides to see a doctor. There are several reasons why the narrator does not like her doctor but she continues seeing him once per week. Over time the narrator develops an affinity for her doctor. The narrator feels a constant wall between her and other people but this wall does not exist between her and the doctor.

Late in the fall, the narrator experiences a "slowing down". The narrator's perspective on life is dark and she loses her ability to love. As a result of therapy, some of the narrator's problems go away. The narrator now laughs, reads and talks to people on the street. Although many of her problems persist, the narrator wants to end her therapy. Unfortunately the narrator can not bring herself to end the therapy, therefore therapy does not end. 

Davis's "therapy" presents many questions and few answers. Attempting to analyze this story would be difficult. My favorite thing about "therapy" is the narrator's tone. I would describe it as "matter of fact". But how trustworthy is the narrator? If I met this person on the street, then I would not take them seriously. Plot matters very little in "Therapy". I hope that the more of Davis's fiction I read, the better I will be able to understand her peculiar style.

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Al Roosten

Getting back to some George Saunders stories here.

Summary

This story feels like a roller coaster of contradictory thoughts. The constant banter of Roosten's inner thoughts makes it difficult to follow the story, but I am going to give it a shot. Roosten is the owner of a store called Bygone Daze, a shop that sells vintage collectibles. Roosten is volunterring in a strange charity event called LaffKidsOffCrack. Along with Larry Donfrey, Roosten is going to be auctioned off to the highest bidder. Roosten and Donfrey both saunter down a runway, presumably to increase their chances of being bid on. After Roosten does his runway walk, he walks to the "cardboard jail" where he has "his own barred window". Once this bizarre spectacle is over, Roosten retires to the changing area where, in a fit of jealous anger, he kicks Donfrey's keys and wallet underneath a "stack of risers."
Roosten drives "through the town where he'd lived his whole life" while his mom talks to him from heaven. Roosten feels guilty about Donfrey's keys so he envisions an alternate timeline where he goes back to the event and helps Donfrey find his keys and wallet. He even envisions himself eating dinner with the entire Donfrey clan. None of this is actually happening.
Roosten reaches his shop across the street from a junkyard where "hoboes hung out." Roosten imagines himself beating up a homeless man with "ghoulish" teeth and red eyes. Roosten frames this as a valuable lesson for the homeless man. Instead Roosten and the homeless man exchange weak smiles and go on their ways.

Analysis

The narrator of this story cycles between a third person detached POV and direct access to Al Roosten's real thoughts. I would argue that the focus of the story is the distinct voice representing Roosten's inner thoughts. The voice is contradictory. It goes from one thought to the exact opposite immediately. I would characterize it as neurotic and possibly unstable. Roosten typically envisions himself performing outrageous feats but his real-life behaviour is contained and measured. The frankness of the third-person narrator brings the reader closer to Roosten, making him a more sympathetic character. There's a tension between Saunders's view of Roosten as disgusting and the narrator's desire to make Roosten seem pitiful and sweetly stupid.

Donfrey acts as an interesting foil to Roosten. Donfrey is much more successful and handsome than Roosten and Roosten even admits that Donfrey is a "good guy". The narrator remarks that Donfrey and Roosten are "twin pillars of the local business community," yet appears to have a much better life. Donfrey is simply and upgraded version of Roosten in every way.

The voice of Roosten's mother is an interesting aspect of this story. It's telling that the dead mother is still speaking so coherently and frequently in Roosten's head. We can add hearing voices to the list of Roosten's issues. The mother is giving and realistic. She tells Roosten that his "moral courage" is his most important trait.

I am surprised at how much there is to examine in this story. On the first reading, it was hard to track the story's plot while following the crazy statements of Roosten's inner thoughts. Once I became comfortable with this structure, it became easier to find the meaning in this story. It will be fun to revisit this story and find even more insane ways that Saunders creates meaning. There's a lot to chew on in Roosten's thoughts and in the story's unique setting. 

An illustration of Al Roosten and Larry Donfrey from the New Yorker.

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"Mr. Voice" by Jess Walter

"Sometimes your life changes in big, dramatic ways, as though you've been cast in a play you don't remember auditioning for. Moments have the power of important scenes: being paraded in a tiny purple dress at a wedding, someone putting headphones on you and playing a rock song. But other scenes seem to occur offstage; it's as if you just awake one morning and understand that a certain thing is now something else."

Summary

I recently checked out 2015 edition of The Best American Short Stories. The final story in this collection is Jess Walter's "Mr. Voice". The teller of this story is a young woman named Tanya who lives with her single mother. Tanya's mother is a "stunner" who goes through men like toilet paper. Out of nowhere, Tanya's mother settles down with a man referred to as Mr. Voice, a fifty-year-old radio host known for his distinctive speech patterns. Tanya and her mother move in with Mr. Voice and his son Brian, a teenager who wiles smoking weed and playing guitar.

One day, Tanya's mother leaves with Brian's guitar teacher Allen. This forces Tanya to spend more time with Mr. Voice who she starts referring to as Claude. Tanya realizes that Mr. Voice AKA Claude is the closest thing to a responsible parent that she will ever have. He even teaches Tanya about female reproduction. Tanya reaches puberty and starts to notice the attention of men, but Tanya only has eyes for her step-brother Brian. To get closer to Brian, Tanya flirts with his best friend Clay. Unfortunately, this leads to Clay practically raping Tanya when she is home alone. But this story interrupts the rape by having Mr. Voice kick Clay out of the house. Mr. Voice teachers Tanya that she never has to do something that she doesn't want to do. Tanya also learns that Brian is gay so there goes her chances with him. After her mother dies, Tanya learns that Allen, the guitar teacher, is her biological father, though at this point, Tanya could care less because the only real parent she has ever had is Mr. Voice.

Analysis

This story is both uplifting and tragic. Although Tanya's mother abandoned her with Mr. Voice, it's probable that she married Mr. Voice because she knew he would take care of Tanya. So even though mother made poor choices, at least she could give Tanya the parent that she would never be. Mr. Voice is clearly a hero in this story. When Tanya finds out that Allen is her biological father, she ends the story by referring to Mr. Voice as father. A parent is not someone who creates you, a parent is someone who takes care of you after you are created.

The turning point in Tanya's character is when she realizes that she is her own person. She doesn't have to listen to her mother's crazy advice and no matter how similar they look, she can blaze her own trail. Without Mr. Voice, Tanya would have lived her life is accordance with her mother's advice: "Your looks are like a bank account...at some point you'll have to spend the money." Understandably, something about this advice makes Tanya feel ill.

This is a very pleasant and succinct story. The events are straightforward and easy to understand and the characters' actions are clear-cut by the story's end. Tanya's mother leaves because that is what the story needs to have happen. The story also gives the audience exactly what it wants. Mr. Voice saves Tanya from Clay because that is what needs to happen. If Tanya were actually raped, the story would progress in a very different fashion. The story gives you the possibility of horror but would never fully allow this horror to take place. God forbid the people reading this story might feel sad or cold at the end and then Jess Walter would look like a creep. There's no chance of that happening. Jess Walter needs his readers to feel somewhat happy so they will go out and read his next book.

I shouldn't say that about this story. It's my first encounter with Walter's work and I found it to be quite clever and engaging. However I hope that the other stories in this collection are not as family-friendly wholesome entertainment. I hate it when literary fiction tries too hard to make you feel happy. Literature exists to challenge us and make us consider things with new perspectives. It has no obligation to feed us warm emotions. This is not what I expect or find admirable in work of literature.

As always, please feel free to leave your thoughts in a comment. Thanks for reading.

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Related Posts:

• "Anything Helps" by Jess Walter
• "Thief" by Jess Walter

Chekhov - Gooseberries

Chekhov as a young man.

Anton Chekhov’s stories are rich, compelling, and highly detailed. Chekhov is an early practitioner of minimalist writing. Instead of telling the reader how to feel and where to find meaning, Chekhov lets his work suggest a number of different readings depending on the reader. He accomplishes this through a measured use of language that captures immense detail in few words. Re-reading Chekhov is important because it allows one to find those details that stick out and assign meaning to them.

            “Gooseberries” raises several questions about how to achieve satisfaction and happiness in life. The story opens with two men, Ivan Ivanych and Burkin, walking on a seemingly endless plain. Without any context for this situation, the reader must conjure up their own reasons as to why the two men are together. While the sky is overcast and both men are tired, they are “filled with love” for nature and its beauty. The connection between man and nature is a theme that appears multiple times in “Gooseberries”. The men grow increasingly dirty and wet until they seek shelter at their friend Alyohin’s farm. Alyohin seems excited to greet his friends and offers them fresh clothes and a place to stay the night.

            After taking a pleasant dip in the river, Ivan Ivanych tells a story about his younger brother Nikolay, who dreams of having his own land in the country. Nikolay works a government job for years until he saves enough money to buy a three-hundred acre plot in the countryside. Rural living is a fantasy for Nikolay that results from his childhood spent in a idyllic peasant family. Ivan Ivanych says bluntly that his brother was unhappy working in the city for years. Nikolay’s farm fantasy fuels his motivation to keep working because eventually he can retire to the peaceful countryside. When this finally happens, Nikolay is still unsatisfied in life. He’s offended when the local villagers don’t refer to him as “your honor” and his ego and body inflate immensely. Despite having reached his goal, Nikolay can not escape the dissatisfied feeling that accompanied him in the city. The formerly soft-spoken Nikolay now has grandiose opinions about societal issues and carries himself in a boisterous manner.

            The unhappiness of Nikolay contrasts with the chill vibe of his brother Ivan Ivanych, who finds pleasure wherever he can get it. Nothing suggests Ivan is a bad person. His concept of happiness involves the truth and accepting the things he can’t control. Yet Ivan also laments his current predicament: “I can only grieve inwardly, get irritated, worked up, and at night my head is ablaze with the rush of ideas and I cannot sleep. Oh, if I were young!”. Even Ivan Ivanych has his moments of despair.

            Chekhov’s “Gooseberries” is an interesting portrait of a particular moment in the lives of three ultra-realistic men. I hope to return to this story in the future so I can hopefully find more ambiguities in this rich story.

Junot Diaz and "Aurora"

Junot Diaz is an incredible author. I recently read The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao for the second time and was absolutely floored by its narrative complexity and emotional resonance. The story focuses primarily on Oscar Wao, an overweight ghetto nerd living in Paterson, New Jersey. Oscar is obsessed with Science Fiction, fantasy, and anything that provides an escape from the depressingly awful circumstances of his life. The novel deals with a number of themes, ranging from the construction of gender to how Diaspora can change someone’s life. I can’t recommend the novel enough. Anyone interested in sci-fi, adulthood, Latin-american literature, or book in general will greatly enjoy this book. It’s hard to imagine Diaz topping this novel anytime soon. It’s an incredible achievement that I hope will stand the test of time.

While I could talk for hours about The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, this post will focus on Diaz’s short story “Aurora” in the collection Drown. Since I originally created this blog to review short fiction, I hope to continue this for as long as possible. After finishing the first four stories in Drown, I can safely say that the literary quality of Diaz’s short fiction is on par with TBWLOW. His stories exhibit the same kind of voice and style present in his longer work. The same narrator is present in both Drown and TBWLOW, making the two works feel like companions to each other. Most authors I’m familiar with switch narrators frequently, while Diaz is content to keep the same narrator. As a part-time writer of fiction, this makes sense to me as it maintains a common thread throughout multiple books. When you can keep something the same in multiple stories, this lessens the amount of work for the writer. The narrator’s name is Yunior and for lack of a better term, he’s a douche. He spends the majority of his time womanizing to build up his fragile ego. In his defense, Yunior does seem to mature later, but his early life is rife with abuse perpetrated by and against him. It’s critical to discuss Yunior because he is always present in both Drown and TBWLOW. With Yunior, Diaz has created a character who may not be likeable, but has arguably redeemed himself by telling us the stories in the first place.

“Aurora” comes at a point when Yunior seems to be in high-school or possibly older. Along with his friend/co-worker named Cut, Yunior has made a steady living dealing drugs in New Jersey. It’s an interesting point in Yunior’s life because he’s making bad decisions all over the place. There’s a tension between what Yunior is doing and how he knows it’s bad. Yunior can’t seem to stop himself from indulging in activities that are dangerous and rewarding in the short-term future. The reader is presented several times with Yunior’s thoughts upon waking in which he laments his choices the prior night. One consistent form of danger comes in the form of Aurora, the title character of the story who is difficult to fully understand as a person. Aurora appears to Yunior sporadically, always ready to do drugs and have sex in exchange for something. It’s easy to dismiss Aurora as a drug-addicted burnout, yet she’s a surprisingly complex character. She’s appealing enough that Yunior describes his relationship with her as love, despite how it sometimes looks like abuse. To me, the story presented a commentary on love as something hard to define. Is Yunior really in love with Aurora, or is he addicted to what she provides for him physically? Yunior seems convinced that it’s love but I find myself unwilling to accept Yunior as a credible source.

The story ends in a hardly surprising difficult place. Aurora has been released from Juvenile Hall and met up with Yunior in an abandoned apartment. It’s a fleeting moment of happiness for both characters and Yunior admits that everything seems fine. It’s tragic because any semblance of normalcy in this moment will disappear because for these characters because love is intertwined with hate and normal equates with danger.

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Semplica Girl Diaries Reaction

Saunders' The Semplica Girl Diaries deals with a father's struggle to make his family happy. He feels the pressure of "limitations" that result from his lack of money and privilege. Attending the birthday party of his daughter's friend makes him depressed because of the extreme wealth on display at the other family's home. It's all relative in this story. The father feels his own middle to lower-class lifestyle is lacking in relation to the lifestyle of a much wealthier family. Lily, the narrator's youngest daughter, feels this the most. Lily seems ingrained to think that not having a disposable income means your life is deficient and not worth living. Why does she feel this way? Saunders thinks that society is responsible for glamorizing wealth and making people always aware of how others perceive them. More than anything else, money reminds us of who we are.

I found this story more engaging than most of the other Saunders' stories. Coming in at sixty pages, The Semplica Girl Diaries is more novella than short fiction. The narrator's voice was immediately engaging for me. Some of Saunders' other stories feel like they're coming straight from the mind of a psychopath. This story did not feel like this. The voice is clear and deliberate. The story is told in the form of journal entries that the father has jotted down before going to bed. He hopes to preserve his experiences for future readers. From what I can tell, the father is down to earth family man whose main wish is to make his family happy. When he wins ten grand on a scratch ticket, he decides to invest this money into his yard, buying a pond, hot tub, flowers, and three girls from Asia and Africa tied together by a microline inserted into their heads. In this fictional world, buying live humans a yard ornaments is the latest trend. The semplica girl element elevates this story to sci-fi and adds some horror to the mix. It's unsettling how comfortable the narrator is with using other human beings as decorations on his lawn.

One note on craft. I enjoyed Saunders' prose style in this story. He omits the use of "to be" verbs and words like "the" and "a". The result is a more minimalist story that makes it feel more like reading someone's journal. It's a very personal story that divulges the narrator's emotional and intellectual activities often. Another thing I appreciate about the journal format is the use of dates to separate the story into consumable chunks.

This story made me think about how identity is formed by other's perceptions. Especially in American culture, one's life is judged in relation to the lives of others. This is a sad truth that can invade your mind consume your activity. It can turn your life into a struggle to create meaningless status. This is the message I extracted from this story.

Puppy

"Puppy" by George Saunders alternates between the perspectives of two women, Marie and Callie. It's a simple story structure. The story's divided into four equal sized portions. Marie and Callie both get two. I guess each of these portions can be called a vignette. Saunders provides one informative scene from each woman's life before allowing the women to interact.

Each scene is told in the third person and feels like its coming from the character's mind. The first scene focuses on Marie, a mother of two children who has some problems but still lives a pretty good life. Her son Josh is prone to violent outburst but has mellowed out since playing a video game called Italian Loaves. This game simulates the life of a baker who must prepare his bread while avoiding the onslaught of animals such as wolves with distended stomachs and birds that drop rocks. Josh plays this game nonstop and it has mellowed him out. Marie is in control of her life and appears to be happy. The context of her life is strange but things seem to be going okay for her family. Marie has a fascination with bringing home strange things which is what leads her to contact Callie to purchase her dog.

Like Marie, Callie is a mother of a strange child. Callie's son has a habit of darting between cars on the interstate. Callie fears for her son's safety so she makes his take medication, but it makes him grind his teeth and lose control of his body. Like Marie, Callie has a plethora of problems but she is tough and appears to be relatively happy.

Callie and Marie are similar but have different lifestyles. Marie loves bringing home new animals to surprise her husband while Callie has too many animals.

Consequently, Callie's husband feels a need to kill the various animals because he grew up on a farm and understands the reality that the best way to get rid of animals is to kill them. This is what motivates Callie to post an ad in the paper to sell her dog ergo her husband won't have to kill it. For Callie, a lot depends on whether or not Marie buys her dog. 

So Marie arrives at Callie's house and intends to purchase the dog. Everything is going smoothly until Marie looks out the window and sees Bo, Callie's son, chained to a tree. It's the funniest moment of the story. After seeing this boy chained to a tree, Marie assumes that this is child abuse. She flashbacks to her own painful upbringing and changes her mind about buying the dog. Little does she know that this boy is chained up for his own good. Its possible that this chain is keeping the boy alive but Marie sees it in a different light.

Both women love their children but experience love in a different way. Marie can manipulate her son's behavior by getting him a video game but Callie's situation is more difficult. Bo is a danger to himself when given free roam outdoors but hates being kept indoors. Callie's solution is to chain him to a tree. This is how love exists in Callie's world. Loving those around you for who they are and trying to make them realize their full potential. I believe this is the ultimate message of Saunders' "Puppy". 

Random boy chained to a tree.

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"The Barber"

"It is trying on liberals in Dilton".

So begins Flannery O'Connor's story "The Barber". O'Conner lived in the South during the first half of the twentieth century. A time when African Americans were denied many basic rights. This story focuses on why a college professor named Rayber decides to change barbers. Rayber, being an educated man, believes in racial equality and supports a progressive political candidate by the name of Darmon. Rayber's barber supports a candidate named Hawkson who never changes his speeches that appeal to the prejudices of lower class Whites.

In the beginning Rayber is caught off guard when his barber asks him the brutally honest question: "You a nigger-lover?". Racial equality is a black and white issue for the barber. In his mind you're either with him or against him. There's no room for in-betweens or any other perspectives. Rayber on the other hand sees a more complex issue. He identifies as neither a Negro- no a white-lover and assures the barber that he would readily accept both blacks and white in his classroom.


In this story the reader gets some interiority but not enough to make definitive conclusions about the characters. While the barber and his friend seem simple-minded, it's possible that they are more attuned to the political climate than they let on. It's easy for me to understand Rayber's dilemma. He's a teacher and he wants to enlighten people although he has no idea how to do this. Instead of speaking his mind directly and confidently, Rayber suppresses what he wants to say because he this that his audience won't understand. Rayber makes assumptions about how his audience will react when he really has no idea. So rayber writes a paper that he thinks will convert the barber once read aloud in the barber's shop.

Irony arises when Rayber enters the shop the next day and the barber wants to talk about hunting. To Rayber this situation is a symbolic of a larger societal problem. If he can convince one ignorant barber to vote for Darmon, maybe not all is lost for the South. When Rayber finishes reading his paper in the barbershop, his audience laughs and no one is inclined to change their mind. Not even the colored boy George who understands the social dynamic better than anyone in the shop. In the end Rayber punches the barber out of frustration and storms out of the shop with lather still on his face and an apron billowing behind him like a cape. A comical image of someone who has let things go way too far.

"The Barber" is my favorite O'Conner story so far. Its a simple story in terms of plot but O'Conner makes it rich and compelling with her use of language. It's a pleasure to read O'Conner's writing because it demonstrates a keen eye for detail and a deep understanding of human psychology. More posts about O'Conner's stories on the way.

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"The Bath" By Raymond Carver

All of Raymond Carver's stories are difficult to figure out. Most of the time the information I get feels inconsequential and the real questions I have are never fully answered. The stories do tend to draw me in but as soon as I'm engaged, the story ends and I'm left wondering what the hell happened.

Carver's writing process

"The Bath" is one such story. The basic storyline is quite clear. A Boy gets hit by car on his birthday, falls into a coma, and gets taken to the hospital. Boy's father and mother wait at his bedside while doctors attempt to figure out the problem. The mother is very worried and refuses to leave until she realizes its pointless to stay in the hospital when there's nothing she can do. She goes home with the intention of feeding the dog and taking a bath. 

Taking a bath. It's a key element of the story. The title is "The Bath". I know that the title of the story was later revised to "A Small, Good Thing" which may or may not reveal more about Carver's intentions. Perhaps the bath is important because it is a small good thing and small good things tend to help people during tough times. Once the woman arrives home, she receives a phone call about her son Scotty. Of course this is where the story ends and the dialogue is intentionally vague so that one has no idea who's calling. It might be the baker, the school, or the hospital. 

Lack of communication is a theme throughout this story. There's enough communication between characters to peak my interest, but not enough to understand what's going on. That's just it. The characters and their actions are interesting but communication never succeeds in stirring the same interest. Communication is an integral part of everyday life. People don't realize how important communication is until it disappears. Communication doesn't completely disappear in "The Bath" but certain kinds of communication are conspicuously absent. For example the baker in the beginning only wants to know what is absolutely necessary. He talks like a robot. Such communication is easily forgotten by people because it is boring. People like to be pleasant and respond well to positive emotions and appreciate a smile here and there. None of this positive energy exists in "The Bath". 

Anyways, I'm going to sleep. Here's a link to today's story so all five of the people who read this post have easy access to it. 

http://www.massey.ac.nz/massey/fms/Colleges/College%20of%20Humanities%20and%20Social%20Sciences/EMS/Readings/139.105/Additional/The%20Bath%20-%20Raymond%20Carver.pdf

In the comment section post whatever you want. Your reaction to the story, my blog, helpful comments about my writing or whatever you want. The world is your oyster. Thanks for reading and please share and +1 my blog. It really helps me out. Goodnight

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Victory Lap by George Saunders

I recently picked up George Saunders' new short story collection, "Tenth of December". I was so impressed by his story "Sea Oak" that I decided to check his most recent collection of stories. If you've never read "Sea Oak" you should. It's awesome.

The first story in Saunders' new book is "Victory Lap", a story told from three different perspectives. "Victory Lap" is obviously a story written by the Saunders. The language, sense of humor, and general style is unmistakably Saunders. I was immediately drawn in by Saunders' vocabulary and fascinating characters. While both "Victory Lap" and "Sea Oak" feature third person narration, "Victory Lap" has much more interiority with its characters. The voice of the story feels like it comes directly from the mind of its characters. Saunders does this convincingly making each character's segment feel unique with all kinds of different details bubbling beneath the surface alluding to each character's past. Ok, that's enough about fancy stylistic stuff.

"Victory Lap" is a crazy story. The characters are hilarious and fascinating but it doesn't feel like anythings really happening until wham! One of the characters Allison is kidnapped by some guy named Melvin and taken into his van to be raped and killed.  Its a weird gut punch in the middle of a story that doesn't feel like it should involve rape, murder, or kidnapping. The story does end on a happy note though (happy for me at least).

As much as this story weirded me out and made me feel like I barely understood its three characters, I still enjoyed reading it. Saunders keeps things interesting and proves that he knows how to make readers unsure whether they should be laughing or crying.

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