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Archive for the ‘Short Story’ Category

Joshua Ferris–“Mrs. Blue” (The Iowa Review, Vol 29, No 2, Fall 1999)

Posted in Canadian Music, Constellation Records, Efrim Manuel Menuck, Funny (strange), Godspeed You Black Emperor, Huh?, Joshua Ferris, Radiohead, Set at School, Sex, Short Story, Silver Mt. Zion, The Iowa Review, Unreliable narrator on May 23, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: EFRIM MANUEL MENUCK-Plays “High Gospel” [CST078] (2011).

Efrim Manuel Menuck was a co-founder of Godspeed Your Black Emperor and the main force behind A Silver Mt. Zion.  In some ways it seems odd that he would release a solo album, but I guess Silver Mt Zion is enough of a collective for him to want to do his own thing.  Efrim has been singing a lot more on Silver Mt Zion records, and I find his voice to walk a fine line between interesting and annoying–well, not so much annoying as inappropriate to the music he makes.  For this solo disc, though, there’s something different about the music that works well with his voice.  There’s eight songs on the disc.  Some of them are pretty much unlistenable, but others are really enjoyable.  The opener “our lady of parc extension and her munificent sorrows” is 7 minutes long and has the kind of epic feel of his previous bands, but there’s a lot more keyboard (making cool space sounds).  Meanwhile, “a 12-pt. program for keep on keepin’ on” is described as a “hauntingly processed field recordings and ominous tape-delayed sound-sculpture.”  That’s true for the first minute or so, but after that it’s mostly just an unpleasant cacophony…that lasts nine minutes!  And while it’s great that it was all done with analogue equipment, that doesn’t make it any more listenable.

“august four, year-of-our-lord blues” is a much more enjoyable instrumental, slow vibrated notes, a real western sound.  Efrim sings again on “heavy calls & hospital blues” and his angsty, hesitant voice works very well on this piano ballad.  “heaven’s engine is a dusty ol’ bellows ” is a 2 minute instrumental/introduction that sounds a lot like the guitar opening from Radiohead’s “Electioneering.” “kaddish for chesnutt” is a slow, mournful dirge.  It’s quite moving.  It’s 7 minutes long, and the length is saved by the second half where the chanted vocals bring the song back from the edge.

“chickadees’ roar pt. 2” is mostly feedback noises and squeaks.  It’s less unpleasant than other instrumentals, but it’s not something you’d seek out.  Although it does work as an introduction to the closer: “i am no longer a motherless child.”  After about 2 minutes of dissonant introduction, the group begins singing an uplifting ending hymn.

So this boils down to a self-indulgent solo project, with a few tracks that are among his best.  You can stream it here.

[READ: May 22, 2012] “Mrs Blue”

I really enjoyed Joshua Ferris’ first novel.  So I thought I’d see what else he had written. He has a number stories published but most of them are unavailable for free reading at this time.  Thanks to my JSTOR account I was able to read this one from The Iowa Review.

This was  pretty confusing story–and since its one of his first, I don’t really know what else to compare it to in his work.  There’s all kinds of disturbing images and as you delve more deeply into the story, the images turn more disturbing but in different ways.

It opens with a youngish boy being seduced by Mrs Blue, a teacher in his school.  He warns her about the dangers of unprotected sex and she says that she’s the one who convinced the PTA to hire the guy who gave the lecture, so she knows all about it.  He’s 13 and he keeps telling her he doesn’t want to (her locations of choice include under a railroad car and in a burned out building).  Each paragraph or so is set off by a star, indicating a new section.  So section 2 has the narrator and Gus (friend? brother?) go to the track where Mrs Blue runs laps. Gus walks his dog, Mr Yackley, while the narrator (whose name is Woodrow Williams) talk about Cole Porter and how she’s looking for a new “daddy.” (more…)

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Karl Taro Greenfeld–“Fun Won” (Harper’s, June 2012)

Posted in Bob Mould, Decadence, Drinking, Drugs, Harper's, Hüsker Dü, Hellbender, Karl Taro Greenfeld, Marriage (Happy), Marriage Trouble, Models, Nostalgia, Short Story on May 21, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: HELLBENDER-Con Limón (1997).

Con Limón was Hellbender’s final CD.  It shows a lot more depth and variation than one would have expected from the debut.  “Fake I.D.” opens really really quietly for two verses so that you have to turn it up loud.  And then the song kicks in and explodes your speakers.  There are more such dynamics on this song, including the verse ending on a high guitar note and pause that adds a bit of quiet punch to the otherwise fast song.  “You Gutted Me with a Switchblade Shaped Like a Telephone” opens with some quietly spoken words (which I have not as yet been able to understand), but the verses and chorus have quite an emo feel.   “Long Distance Phone Bill Runner” has a catchy chugging riff with some screamy vocals.  “Untrusted You” introduces acoustic guitar (and a cool off-key note).  The vocals sound like Bob Mould.  Indeed the whole thing has a kind of Hüsker Dü feel to it.  “I-95 is Tattooed on My Brain” also opens slowly, with dark, quiet lyrics and a cool riff once the guitar kicks in.  The guys clearly have a way with song titles.

“Song About Some Girls” is perhaps one of the cheesiest songs I’ve heard in a long time (although as one reviewer points out, it does anticipate radio friendly emo by about a decade).  Coming from Hellbender it is super-cheese.  I’m surprised they allowed it to be released (and I’m surprised it wasn’t a huge hit).  Check out the lyrics (and this coming from a band with two lyricists who are currently published authors): “This is a song that I wrote about some girls/That I met at the beach back when I had the Jeep.”  Really.  And the chorus is a series of staggered “Right” “Right” “Right” “Right.”  It is so insanely catchy–I hate myself for liking it so much.  (The lyrics to their other songs are much better).

“Graveyarded” returns to the more angry type of song, dark with interesting riffs.  It’s a fitting ending to the last release by this under appreciated (they don’t even have an entry in allmusic?) band.  Oh wait, there’s a bonus song on the disc.  After a few seconds of silence, there’s a strange bass-heavy riff (and kind of dancey drums).  The lyrics are all spoken (I won’t say rapped).  It sounds nothing like them, but I’ll bet they had fun making it.

[READ: May 21, 2012] “Fun Won”

Sometimes a title confounds you until you see it in the context of the story.  I couldn’t even figure out how to say the title (which isn’t hard, but looks so peculiar) until I read it from one of the characters.  I also had no way of anticipating what this story might be about.

Imagine my surprise that it was about the 90s, and about a woman who worked for Conde Nast, when money and drugs were plentiful and the fun never stopped.

It’s funny how context is everything.  If I had read this story in the 90s, I would have hated everyone in it for their glamorous life, their quarter pound of weed, their expense accounted fancy dinner and even the fact that they work for a fashion magazine (Gaultier and Naomi Campbell are name-checked).  And yet now that the bubble has burst and the fun has stopped and I never got to be a part of it (not that I would have…but still), I read this story almost wistfully.

This story is set up in a tricky way.   Meaning that it starts out by talking about marriage but then shifts gears.  The marriage discussion is all about how her friends married such squares in the 90s (while now women marry interesting men who have job but are defined by their hobbies).  And it is a nostalgia piece for the 90s (“when you could still dream of being a writer, when writing for magazines and then writing books and all of that added up to a good life.”) [Sigh].

For background we learn that the narrator, her brother and their father were big dopers (their mother abstained–from the dope and the family).  Her brother Ed is visiting from California with a quarter pound of awesome pop (this was before everyone had access to awesome pot).  The bulk of the story concerns this visit.  Ed and the narrator get high, then they share the pot with Marni (who is famous, although whose actual title is unstated–she’s the one who calls Gaultier).  They end up all going for dinner at a fancy restaurant (with shaved truffles).

They also meet the narrator’s boyfriend who is a real estate mogul–he sells building for tons of money (and yes, is likely the reason the bubble burst).  And then they go to a record studio to hear a famous singer make her album and watch it get mixed. (more…)

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Mike Barnes–“Atlas” (The Walrus, June 2012)

Posted in All Songs Considered, Canadian Content, Fiona Apple, Hospitals, Mike Barnes, Short Story, The Walrus, Work on May 17, 2012| Leave a Comment »

 SOUNDTRACK: FIONA APPLE—Live at SXSW (sampler), April 11, 2012 (2012).

Fiona Apple hasn’t been in the public eye much lately.  Her new album comes out any day.  And she gave a preview of her tour at SXSW this Spring.  NPR has access to four songs from that show (streaming).  I wish there was video—she’s an intriguing performer—but if audio is all what we get, so be it.

“Fast As You Can” starts this sampler, and she sounds great.  It’s not a challenging song vocally, but she sounds strong and like she hasn’t been away for very long.  Musically, the song isn’t as dense as on the record—I’m sure that’s the nature of her touring band.  “A Mistake” has a strangely long “jam” session, which strikes me as odd for her.  I wonder what she did during that time (or is she playing piano?).  “Extraordinary Machine” sounds good, but again, it seems so spare (the album was so full of music).  She hits the high notes quite well, though.  The final song of is “Every Single Night,” the new song from her new album.  It sounds great live.  And it was a good introduction to the song.

It’s hard to critique the music live because who knows what could have happened that did not transfer well.  But he voice sounds excellent.

I’m looking forward to her new album, with the preposterously long title.

[READ: May 17, 2012] “Atlas”

This story opened up in a very confusing way.  It begins with a day listed in all caps (The Day the Fat Man Almost Fell) and then proceeds to talk about Danny (who is not the fat man).  It is set in the fairly insular world of a hospital and those first few paragraphs have lots of jargon.  So much so that when I finally figured out that Danny was an employee not a patient, I had to reread it to get my bearings.

The first section ends with the Day mentioned above as the story then switches to flashback and context.

Danny has been at the hospital for three years.  He had a lot of medical problems, so his doctor inquired about his getting in on the ALP—Assisted Living Program.  The doctor explains it’s not disability or Goodwill, it a holistic treatment model.  There was a long list of applicants but since the doctor knew Danny, he could offer him this opportunity.  Danny would work for the hospital, live in subsidized housing provided by the hospital and get all kinds of in-house benefits (discounts on meds and the cafeteria.  He could even join study teams).  Eventually they even hoped to have tunnels that connected the housing to the hospital.  (I wonder what the hospital would get in return?  Underpaid workers?  It never says if he makes very much).

We jump back to the earlier scene and how Danny helps with the Fat Man (he helped to support him before he fell off the operating table).  The scene is darkly comic (“are we going to operate on his ass?”).   And it results in Danny earning some respect (one of the nurses winks at him and calls him “Atlas”). (more…)

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Louise Erdrich–“Nero” (New Yorker, May 7, 2012)

Posted in All Songs Considered, Ani DiFranco, Dogs, Louise Erdrich, New Yorker, Pets, Short Story, Violence on May 11, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: ANI DIFRANCO-“Hearse” (2012).

I used to really like Ani DiFranco.  Back in the 90s, she was a personal hero of independent spirit–self releasing records, gaining a huge fan base (while living in Buffalo(?)), speaking her mind, and basically not kowtowing to the man.  And all along she was making great music–folky yes, but also alternativey, with rebellious, fighting lyrics.

Then at the dawn of 2000, I lost interest in her.  I didn’t enjoy the kind of music she was making anymore.  She seemed to be writing much longer compositions (not a good sign for a girl from the punk side of the tracks.  And her arrangements were growing bigger and bigger.  The occasional funk jam was fine, but once she started really letting her experimental side go, her songs were buried by smooth sounds.  And they were hard to listen to.  Especially since as she started embracing more interesting sonic sounds and textures, she seems to relax her grip on melody.  Her early songs were easy to sing along to but by 2005, mmm, not so much.

The funny thing to think about is that once you stop listening to an artist, you kind of think they must stop making music.  But that’s not the case, most of the time.  So imagine my surprise to see that since the last Ani album I listened to, she has released eight new ones!  This track comes from her most recent album, Which Side Are You On?  I can’t speak to the content of the rest of the album, but this song is a pretty ballad.

It’s a romantic song, even if her metaphors aren’t so pretty and romantic after all (hence the title).  But for some reason this song just doesn’t grab me.  It has all of the elements of Ani DiFranco songs of old, but it doesn’t make me want to sing along.

But the most surprising thing for me is just how different she looks in that picture (from NPR).  It’s not that she looks older or has grown her hair out, she looks completely different.  I don’t see anything of her old self in this photo.  That’s bizarre!

[READ: May 11, 2012] “Nero”

Warning (but not spoiler), there’s a dog death in this story.

This story shows us a world that (I assume) doesn’t exist much anymore.  It’s full of Midwesterners (of German descent) from many years ago when certain things were done a certain way and roles were very strictly defined.

The narrator is a woman and the story is set during her childhood.  She was sent to go live with her grandparents while her mother was having a new baby.  They figured she’d be there a couple weeks so her mother could adjust.  Her grandparents run a butcher shop and market; they live upstairs.  As the story opens, the narrator tells us about Nero, the attack dog who lives in the backyard, but “works” in the store at night.

She also explains How It Is in the house.  Nero is an employee.  He is not treated with kindness.  He is fed scraps and lives outside.  The other dogs who live inside are there to keep the humans feet warm.  The other animals outside are meat, except for the chickens, which provide eggs and then become meat.  That is How It Is.

The story settles on the narrator’s attempts to bond (somewhat) with Nero.  She begins feeding him gingersnaps and saying the word aloud.  And Nero starts to respond to the word.  But Nero is pretty much feral.  And Nero’s man enjoyment in life stems from leaping the (now) seven-foot fence and running down the street to get to the Cocker Spaniel. (more…)

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Jamie Allen–“Reunion” (Grantland Quarterly, No 2, 2012)

Posted in Arcade Fire, Baseball, Grantland, Jamie Allen, Short Story on May 8, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: TIMES NEW ROMAN-“Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)” from Score! 20 Years of Merge Records: The Covers (2009).

This is the final song from Score!  It’s a cover by Times New Viking (nice name) of The Arcade Fire’s “Neighborhood #1” from Funeral.

I loved Funeral when it came out and I’m still quite fond of it.  The Times New Viking cover is pretty faithful to the original (the vocals are really close, in fact).  But the cover sounds like it was recorded on a transistor radio.  The original isn’t a bass-thumping heavy song, but the cover is so tinny and fragile, it seems to get lost in itself.  It also sounds something like a demo.  Neither of these are bad in and of itself, but the final version is so full, that this doesn’t really add anything new to the song.

But it did get me to listen to the original again, so that’s good.

[READ: May 6, 2012] “Reunion”

I have just finished Grantland #2 and I wanted to mention this story alone because for the most part the “magazine” (or whatever it is) doesn’t  have fiction in it.

I was a little concerned when it first started that it was going to be very baseball-heavy, because the main character and the friend he reconnects with were pitcher and catcher when they were younger.  But I was pleased that the story used their baseball past as a framework to establish their closeness and synchronicity, not as the end of the story itself.

It was also funny to read a story in which people get caught up via Facebook.  It may be the first fiction I’ve read where such an emphasis is placed on Facebook as a reuniting medium—with the protagonist being unsure about it at first and then deciding it was a pretty cool thing (very true for many of us).  Indeed, the quote “How many high school reunions had Facebook ruined…” is quite apt. (more…)

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Gabriel Tallent–“Men Against Violence” (Narrative, Winter 2012)

Posted in Contests, Death Cab For Cutie, Drinking, Drugs, Gabriel Tallent, LGBTQ, Narrative, Scholarship, Set at School, Sex, Short Story, Superchunk, Violence on May 4, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE-“Kicked In” from Score! 20 Years of Merge Records: The Covers (2009).

Death Cab for Cutie are immediately recognizable here.  And they take this Superchunk song and make it sound like a Death Cab for Cutie song.

This cover is the rare cover in which the band takes a song and makes it clearly their own, and yet they don’t alter it all that much from the original.  The Superchunk version is slow (for Superchunk), with buzzing, distorted guitars and Mac’s vocals riding over the top.  The DCFC version features Ben Gibbard’s voice riding over the top as well.  But DCFC make the song a bit cleaner.  Rather than distorted guitars, we get chiming guitars and simple notes.  Instead of being a kind of grungy anthem, it feels somewhat uplifting.  And in true DCFC style, the uplifting sounding song really disguises something darker.

Even though the DCFC version feels slower, it’s not any longer than the original, and I think the pacing is pretty much the same.  It’s a neat trick.  I like both versions equally.

[READ: May, 2, 2012] “Men Against Violence”

This story came in third place in the Narrative Magazine Fall 2011 short story content.  It had a very different feel from second place winner.  It is set in college.  It feels contemporary and it reads young.  This, of course, means that I liked the style immediately.  I admit I was a little confused by the opening—I felt the exposition was  little convoluted and relationships were not established effectively.  But once it got moving, the story was really engrossing.

This is a reasonably simple story.  Kyle has a Hennessey scholarship—he received hundreds of thousands of dollars over his four years of college.  As the story opens he is attending the dinner which announces the newest scholarship grant, and introduces Kyle to the latest scholarship winner, whose name is (in all lower case letters) madison pepper.

The guest speaker at the banquet is Brooke Hennessey.  She is the granddaughter of Dorothy Hennessey and is currently is Kyle’s class at the college.  She speaks eloquently about her family’s donation (of the Hennessey Art Museum).   What she doesn’t say is that she ran away at 15, spent two years living in a car in Portland and that she accepts no money from her family (and has a mountain of debt).  She also doesn’t say that she is currently dating Kyle.

Kyle has problems of his own.  He recently got into a fight with a Trevor, a fairly important person on campus and he is now on a kind of probation—if he fights again, he loses the scholarship and has to back all the money.  This is why he joined Men Against Violence.  There’s a funny (but not really) insight into the existence of MAV on the campus, which leads to many unanswered questions about gender relations.  And the subject of gender relations is all over this story.  That delicate subject is handled very well. (more…)

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Nathan Poole–“Stretch Out Your Hand” (Narrative, Winter 2012)

Posted in Barbara Manning, Death, Depression, Narrative, Nathan Poole, Neko Case, Portastatic, Short Story, South, Superchunk on May 2, 2012| 1 Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: BARBARA MANNING-“Though with People” from Score! 20 Years of Merge Records: The Covers (2009).

I have a Barbara Manning disc, although I don’t remember it very well.  In this song, Manning’s voice is strong and good, but not terribly memorable–perhaps a less distinctive Neko Case?  It’s a catchy cover–a good 90’s era rocker.

The original is also a 90s era rocker. The song is by Portatstic, which is a side project from Superchunk’s Mac.  It doesn’t sound all that different from Superchunk (a little less manic, but Macs voice is distinctive enough that perhaps this just sounds like a slower version of their song).

I like Manning’s cover enough to go dig out 1212 to see what I haven’t listened to in a while.

[READ: April 13, 2012] “Stretch Out Your Hand”

This story came in second place in the Fall 2012 Narrative Magazine writing contest. I read this one first because it was much shorter than the other two stories and I needed a shorter piece for today !

I was disposed against the story from the start because of my own prejudices—I don’t really like stories set in the rural South from the early 20th century.  It’s a combination of my inability to relate and to my overexposure to clichés about the time, where everyone says “Momma” and everything sucks.

And so, when in the first few paragraphs, a young girl named Ruth has finally broken a fever and the father calls the mother “Momma” and the mother can’t stop thanking Jesus, I was not excited to keep on.

But then I started paying attention to the writing.  It was wonderful.  Ruth’s brother starts watching his sister’s fever evaporate and lift into the room.  Then he gives us this observation: “And which of these things is more miraculous: the incandescent movement of my sister’s fever, or the way my father held her.  I can’t say.  There is a place in me where these things go.”

The narrator does not conform to the stereotype of rural Southerners, which makes this transcend a story of sickness and grief. (more…)

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Colum McCann–“Transatlantic” (New Yorker, April 16, 2012)

Posted in Adventure, Colum McCann, East River Pipe, History, Jack Alcock, New Yorker, Short Story, Teddy Brown, The Mountain Goats, War on April 26, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: THE MOUNTAIN GOATS-“Drug Life” from Score! 20 Years of Merge Records: The Covers (2009).

 I could tell this was a Mountain Goats song right from the start–it’s lo fi and yet it sounds clear (especially the vocals). Normally with The Mountain Goats you talk about the lyrics, but since he didn’t write the song, there’s not much to say about them (in this paragraph anyhow).

The original, by East River Pipe is also very lo-fi.  It’s a very catchy song and it’s all about drugs: (“If it comes down to the drugs or you…baby we’re through.”).  The original is guitar and keyboards and Cornog’s straightforward singing.  The cover is simply acoustic guitar.  It’s a little faster (and a little shorter) and because I like The Mountain Goats, I prefer the cover.

Although really, they’re not very different.

[READ: April 16, 2012] “Transatlantic”

This story was out of my comfort zone–it’s about army men and airplanes, that’s not my scene, man.  And after reading the first few paragraphs, I wondered if I should keep reading it.  But McCann wrote a compelling story and I’m really glad I finished it.

The story is basically an account of two men, Teddy Brown and Jack Alcock, as they attempt the first transatlantic flight in their modified bomber called The Vickers Vimy.  Anyone with a working knowledge of the flight, or post WWI history knows that these are two real historical people.  I do not have such a working knowledge, so I had no idea that this was based on a true story.  If you know anything about them (and I swear, Google either of them and you will find all the details that you need) then you know how the story turns out.

I didn’t know how the story turned out and I found it thrilling. In part that’s because it’s an exceptionally exciting moment in history–two former army men modify a bomber and try to fly from Newfoundland, Canada to Ireland.  And really, there’s no way it should work–bombers don’t have enough fuel, they have no radar.  It could take days.   Hell the planes don’t even have a windshield that covers them.  But the excitement is also because of the way that McCann tells the story. (more…)

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Junot Díaz–“Miss Lora” (New Yorker, April 23, 2012)

Posted in Garfunkel and Oates, Junot Díaz, New Yorker, Red Dawn, Scrubs, Set in New Jersey!, Sex, Short Story, The Day After on April 20, 2012| 1 Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: GARFUNKEL & OATES-“Fuck You” (2009).

My coworker sent me a link to this Garfunkel & Oates song.  Garfunkel and Oates is a comedy folk team comprised of Kate Micucci and Riki Lindhome.  This song was featured on Scrubs (seriously) because Micucci played “Gooch,” creepy Ted’s girlfriend on the show.

The song is kind of sweet and funny, but also rather dirty (just like Scrubs).

This version is under two minutes, but there’s a new version (complete with kazoo solo) on their website.  The new version plays up the confusion of the kiss you/fuck you chorus a little more with some very funny lines.  You can also see a bunch of their other funny, catch, dirty songs like: “Gay Boyfriend,” “Sex with Ducks” and “This Party Took a Turn for the Douche.”

So cute!

[READ: April 20, 2012] “Miss Lora”

Junot Díaz is back with another short story–I smell a collection coming out soon.

This one is about Yunior and his brother who died of cancer (as most of his stories are).  But in this one, his brother is more of a presence than an actual character.

For this story is all about Yunior and his lengthy affair with Miss Lora.  Miss Lora was a neighborhood older woman–not too old, but certainly older than the kids.  She was super skinny–totally flat in front and back–but she was very muscular.  She liked showing off her gymnasts’ body in a bikini.  The women (like Yunior’s mom) didn’t think much of her in town, but she didn’t seem to care.

And, although she wasn’t all that much to look at, Yunior developed a bit of a crush on her.  And then one day he realized it was mutual.  (more…)

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Paul Theroux–“Our Raccoon Year” (Harper’s, May 2012)

Posted in Bill Callahan, Death, Harper's, Humiliation, Paul Theroux, Short Story, Smog, Unlikable main character, Versus, Yuck! on April 19, 2012| 1 Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: BILL CALLAHAN-“Santa Maria” from Score! 20 Years of Merge Records: The Covers(2009).

I don’t often listen to songs that are as simple and straightforward as this one.  It’s an acoustic guitar with occasional piano and Callahan’s deep voice.  The melody is enjoyable and the vocals are crystal clear.  (Callahan is from Smog, a band I know of, but whom I don’t really know).

The original of this song is by Versus on their Afterglow EP.  I’ve liked Versus for a long time–their mix of male/female vocals and rockin’ guitars is always exciting.  But I didn’t remember this song at all.  It turns out that it’s kind of a slow, brooding number, something I probably wouldn’t have paid a ton of attention to back when I was rocking out more.

I prefer the Versus version as there’s more interesting tricks afoot, although Callahan does some cool subtleties by the end of the song that really bring out some interesting twists to the song.

[READ: April 16, 2012] “Our Raccoon Year”

I’ve read a few pieces from Paul Theroux, and I’ll say that this piece really surprised me.  While I wouldn’t try to categorize all of Theroux’s writing, I would say that a domestic story about raccoons is one that I would not have expected.

The story opens with the narrator, a young boy, telling us that his Ma decided to go away.  Their Pa explained that she was where she wanted to be “with her friend.”  Given the circumstances, and the fact that Pa was a well-respected citizen (and attorney), Pa was given custody of the narrator and his brother. He was the first man to be given custody of children after a divorce in their region and it only upped people’s opinions of him.

That’s a neat conceit for a story.  So it’s surpising when he says that it also began their “raccoon year” which means it was their year of dealing with raccoons. (more…)

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