Lately I’ve been reading a lot of short stories. I signed up for an online fiction writing class at Gotham Writers’ Workshop and decided to immerse myself in this format. Those of you who follow this blog already know I’m a lover of short stories – it probably has to do with my inability to stick to a project for any sustained amount of time. But I also really admire the ability of someone to take a large concept and distill it to its most critical elements. As a child, I loved miniatures – miniature horses, dogs, doll house furniture, those tiny wrapped candy bars that Hershey’s makes. . . It fascinates me when something so small can be so lifelike. I love Twitter - and Six Word Memoirs - and Post Secret, where people manage to communicate so much, so succinctly. For me, less is often more.
An author who tops my list in his ability to give us a whole world in a few pages is TC Boyle. Every word he puts on paper means something, every image carries more than the sum of its parts. He has numerous short story collections in addition to his novels, the newest collection being Wild Child. This new volume is grounded by the novella-length “Wild Child,” based on the true story of the feral child, Victor of Aveyron. I’ll review this story in a separate post.
The rest of this collection covers a wide range of topics and locations, from Hollywood, California to Caracas, Venezuela. His last story collection, Tooth and Claw, focused closely on the intersection between the natural world and modern society. If there is a unifying theme is Wild Child, I would say that it is an examination of those dark and wild places that reside in each of us. No matter our station in life, Boyle’s scenarios show that the right set of circumstances can push any of us over the edge.
Each story stands on its own merits some, obviously, more successfully than others. The critical reviews on this collection have been mixed but, as far as I’m concerned, Boyle at his worst is better than many short story writers at their best.
A few highlights from this collection:
- “La Conchita,” in which a messenger, charged with delivering a liver to a hospital in time for a transplant, is delayed by a mudslide. Worth reading if only for the in-your-face description of the reality of being in a mudslide, which doesn’t generate the fear of, say, earthquakes or hurricanes. Our narrator tells us, “Maybe it was the fault of the term itself – mudslide. It sounded innocuous, almost cozy . . . as I now know, is nothing short of an avalanche, but instead of snow you’ve got 400,000 tons of liquefied dirt bristling with rock and tree trunks coming at you with the force of a tsunami.”
- “Sin Dolor,” the story of a child born with a genetic malfunction rendering him unable to feel pain. While the story takes place in Mexico, it could easily be in India or other third world countries where poverty determines the fate of nature’s anomalies. A touching and, ultimately, heartbreaking story.
- “The Unlucky Mother of Aquiles Maldonado,” where a Venezuelan baseball hero’s success causes his mother to be kidnapped by a down-and-out band of banditos. Marita Villalba, the mother, is a heroine you will love.
Each and every one of the stories here is an enjoyable read. Some are humorous, some exciting, some touching, but all expose us to a bit of the “wild child” that lives in us all.
Grade: B+
