Stories bouncing between reality and unreality, paired with abstract artworks, result in a unified, surprisingly accessible collection.
This slim but consistently satisfying volume contains just five stories, making it viable to include a few words on each.
It begins with a dignified alderman obliging an odd request that puts him in what might be deemed an undignified position. By adapting to the circumstances, his dignity actually enhances—at least to himself.
This is followed by the more comical, surrealistic experience of Augustus Young, a local crank marketing the myth and mystery of the predictably but aptly named Beefy, a Loch Ness-like creature. Angus’s encounter with the Beef Lake inhabitant proves less enchantingly mystical than coarsely opportunistic.
The humor continues with the middle story and accountant George Willoughby, “a man whose socks are folded in accordance with their drawer, whose meals arrive at their appointed hour, and whose opinions are arranged alphabetically for ease of retrieval.” He’s tasked with assessing levies on a commune’s carnal activities, making ironic the counterculture expression: free love. Only his efforts find George entangled in an equally ironic mixing of business and pleasure.
There’s a return to the obscure with the penultimate story when a popular author’s two-dimensional instructional book on holding a garage sale has a three-dimensional impact when its readers abide its instructions closely.
The first four share a subtle and distinct complexity underneath apparent twists in how those twists come back to the protagonist. Like a well-planned concert lineup they effectively build up to the headliner. The more intricate title story seems to incorporate, even engulf, their spirit with a spiraling circularity. How the shifts in time and repetition work together produces an almost geometrical symmetry. For example:
“He was one of those people who drift into your life sideways, slipping through some conversational gap you didn’t realize you’d left open. One moment you’re discussing the weather, and the next he’s explaining how he once painted a pair of slippers so hideous they caused a roof to collapse.”
The collapsing roof, slippers, painting of the slippers, and the painter himself are interchangeable as subjects and objects in other parts of the story. It results in an agreeable rhythm one could say is quite literally woven together.
Such a small book can tolerate no filler, and thankfully the content is unfailingly incorporated. Each story is as long as it needs to be and the prose is tight yet smoothly edited to feel relaxed. One may become perplexed but not frustratingly so. Because what’s always present is the human essence so critical to short stories with a translucence that ought to enchant even the most hardened realist.
The artworks contribute to add a deeper dimension. Interestingly, each work presumably attached to a particular story is presented after the text, not before. One might wonder then if the story inspires the art or vice versa, that perhaps the stories are meant to enhance appreciation of the artwork. That perspective is likely to vary by reader.
A fine example of less (content) is more (impactful), Freaks of Lightning comes across as an exclusive, refined selection. Some may lament the overall brevity but ought instead to be grateful for the absence of laggards within and around. Each story is a finely cut gem framed by intriguing images to inspire contemplation.
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