01-15-14:Nathan Ballingrud Discovers 'North American Lake Monsters'
Beyond the Mirror
Nobody needs to look too far to see a monster. We all know the drill, which is to say that we all probably know someone who qualifies as a monster. Some may need look no farther than the mirror.
In 'North American Lake Monsters' Nathan Ballingrud demonstrates the power of portrait. He gives us people so real that though they may be unpleasantly so, they are nonetheless compelling. We are immersed in their very real lives and very intense stories before they encounter the fantastic, so deeply captivated by character, that the strange is brushed aside. But not without consequence.
It's a slim book, with only nine stories, but buy it in hardcover, because you'll be re-reading them again and again. Ballingrud's powerful prose never lets go even after you've finished reading his tales, and his disturbingly realistic characters come to reside in your mind. Take this book slow, allow some time between reading the works here. The impact is palpable and lasting.
In "You Go Where It Takes You," Toni is on the road with her young daughter Gwen, when she meets Alex, a man who is much more than he appears to be. Balligrud never lets us know exactly what he is, but it's hard enough finding out exactly what Toni will do; would-wrenching but, and here's what's hard to take, not unexpected. Ordinary humans have dark depths that can easily surface.
In "Wild Acre," Jeremy is working with some friends at the edge of civilization when he witnesses something that should not, could not be; and he does nothing to stop it. He finds that he is forced not only to live with the memory of the horrific and the impossible, but, more impossibly, with the memory of his inaction. Ballingrud takes a classic riff of the fantastic but twists it in an unexpected and angularly modern manner that captures the open-ended, unending nature of regret.
The stories here are all powerful and intense. Ballingrud's prose is carefully stripped down, easily read, but sinewy and with a level of gritty detail that keeps his work extremely grounded. His focus on character, and in particular, characters who are outside the usual purview of fiction, enable him to immerse us in minds and lives that we might not wish to see but are rendered compelling by virtue of the quality of his writing.
The title story is a great example. Grady's out of jail and he's trying to connect with now-teenage daughter. But he's not good at it, and he's not so interested in connection as a father is supposed to be. His wife, Tina, had an affair while he was in jail, and he should be more understanding, but he's quite inclined to get stinking drunk instead. When his daughter disappears and finds something beyond all experience, it leaves traces that cannot be washed away. Ballingrud's bad father, unfaithful wife and surly teenager manage to be off-putting and poignant, and the fantastic notion in the title offers up a mystery that is disturbingly real without easy resolution.
Every story here is equally intense and equally compelling, nine bloody accidents from which we cannot let our eyes, our minds escape. Ballingrud is a master of unease, and more importantly, of examining Americans as they are today and crafting portraits that are anything but pretty. But they are deeply compelling. 'North American Lake Monsters' is unique. It's terrifying but it is filled with a terrifying kind of love. We are this, and in order to show just what this is, Ballingrud must bring out the nightmares and make them real.
01-13-14:David Sedaris Suggests 'Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls'
Owls Are Perhaps Not as Popular as He Thinks
While I can't pretend to be familiar with everything written by David Sedaris, I've read and heard quite a bit, and enjoyed it all immensely. Sedaris is always witty, funny, and enjoyably self-deprecating. Beyond all this, he manages to make his readers feel as if they are right there with him. He creates an authentic sense of intimacy and we see our own flawed selves while we laugh with his entertaining exploits.
'Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls' is no exception to this string of hits. But with this collection, Sedaris pushes himself and manages to top even his own high standards. Most noticeably, he includes fiction here, in the form of "forensics," short in-one-voice-pieces written to be read aloud by high school students performing in competitions. But even in his own familiar territory, he manages to top himself, with what for me was the best single piece I've ever read by this author. If you like David Sedaris, or want to foist his work off on someone, this is the book to wave in their faces.
The "forensics" are interesting pieces, unsubtle to be sure, but hilarious and wrenching all in the same moment. "I Break for Traditional Marriage" is a horror story, David Sedaris style, and it is way, way, over the top in terms of horrific violence and humor. They're melted together into a narrative that clings in the mind long after you've finished reading. "Health Care Freedoms and Why I Want My Country Back" peers into the mind a Tea Party Protester with a wily son. Make no mistake about it; these stories are not understated with regards to their politics, but they're masterful short narratives that are entertaining and written, but not overwritten, with care.
In the rest of the book, Sedaris is up to his usual you-are-there storytelling style. "Dentists Without Borders" is an eye-opening look at healthcare abroad, combining a very low-key, almost invisible sense of the politics of healthcare with Sedaris's own adventures abroad. "Understanding Understanding Owls" gives the book its title, in the usual crosswise fashion, as it is here that Sedaris informs us that owls are a huge craze. It isn't something I've noticed, but it clearly captures his imagination and helps him capture ours. The piece finds the author looking into the dark reaches of a taxidermist's store, as well as those within himself. Pick out any story here and you'll find yourself right here with the author until the final word on the final page of the story, generally a perfectly balanced combination of poignant and humorous.
But beyond the new addition of fiction, and the expected excellence of Sedaris's storytelling, readers can find "Loggerheads," a story by Sedaris that manages to exceed even his own high standards. Sedaris starts with himself and Hugh in Hawaii, then with an understated skill slips back into his youth and back further, to create a story that offers dark, hilarious humor and stark, shocking insights. It's easily one of his best pieces. "A Friend in the Ghetto" begins with a sales call but slips back into the time that Sedaris decided he was going to date a black girl in his high school. Once again, he expertly weaves poignancy and humor to maximize the effect of both. It's certainly not new territory for David Sedaris. But with 'Let's Explore Diabetes With Owls,' David Sedaris turns in his best performance on the page to date, proving that life can continue to get both worse and better in the same moments.
New to the Agony Column
09-18-15: Commentary : William T. Vollman Amidst 'The Dying Grass' : An Epic Exploration of Simultaneity
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with William T. Vollman : "...a lot of long words that in our language are sentences..."
09-05-15: Commentary : Susan Casey Listens to 'Voices in the Ocean' : Science, Empathy and Self
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Susan Casey : "...the reporting for this book was emotionally difficult at times..."
08-21-15: Agony Column Podcast News Report : Senator Claire McCaskill is 'Plenty Ladylike' : Internalizing Determination to Overcome Sexism [Incudes Time to Read EP 211: Claire McCaskill, Plenty Ladylike, plus A 2015 Interview with Senator Claire McCaskill]
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Emily Schultz Unleashes 'The Blondes' : A Cure by Color [Incudes Time to Read EP 210: Emily Schultz, The Blondes, plus A 2015 Interview with Emily Schultz]
07-05-15: Commentary : Dr. Michael Gazzaniga Tells Tales from Both Sides of the Brain : A Life in Neuroscience Reveals the Life of Science
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Michael Gazzaniga : "We made the first observation and BAM there was the disconnection effect..."
04-21-15: Commentary : Kazuo Ishiguro Unearths 'The Buried Giant' : The Mist of Myth and Memory
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Kazuo Ishiguro : ".... by the time I was writing this novel, the lines between what was fantasy and what was real had blurred for me..."
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Marc Goodman : "...every physical object around us is being transformed, one way or another, into an information technology..."
Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 199: Marc Goodman : Future Crimes: Everything Is Connected, Everyone Is Vulnerable and What We Can Do About It
