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Short Story Review: ‘She Was Looking For This Coat’ by Jon McGregor

Rob — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:07:59 +0000

Story Title: She Was Looking For This Coat
Collection/Anthology?: This Isn’t The Sort Of Thing That Happens To Someone Like You (Bloomsbury)
Date Read: 8th February 2012
Briefly: A daughter visits a bus company’s offices, in desperate search of her father’s lost coat.
Afterthoughts: Another tale of extreme brevity from Jon McGregor, set in the nondescript surroundings of a bus company’s lost property office (one assumes).

In true Chekhovian style not a lot happens in this story, yet it remains beautifully engaging. And that engagement comes from wondering why a daughter is showing so much reverence for her father’s lost coat. There appears to be nothing all special about the coat, and yet there’s an underlying reason why the daughter is so desperate to retrieve it.

And in true Chekhovian style again, McGregor offers little in the way of an answer. He prefers to leave this one open, to let the puzzle linger in the mind of the reader. Has the father left something of value in a pocket? Has he suddenly left his daughter, leaving the jacket as an only memory of him? Does the coat hold special sentimental value to him, her or both of them (she can certainly describe it in minute enough detail)? There could be a million reasons why the daughter is desperate to recover the coat, and this story leaves the reader thinking about every one of them.

EDIT: But does McGregor really leave the ending to this one open? He’s been in touch (a pleasant surprise) to let me know that there’s one sentence – one word in fact – that carries the weight of the entire story. It’s so cleverly subtle, and yet so glaringly obvious. If you read the story, see if you can spot what I didn’t. It’s genius! P.S. I still like the idea of an open Chekhovian ending though .

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

This story was read as part of a review of the Jon McGregor short story collection, This Isn’t The Sort Of Thing That Happens To Someone Like You. If you want to find out more about this collection then I invite you to pop along to my forethoughts post for this title, or to take a trip over to the publisher page for this book.

Chekhov Shorts: Dreams

Rob — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 22:42:41 +0000

Title: Dreams
Date Read: 7th February 2012
Briefly: While tramping towards the district town, peasant constables Ptaha and Sapozhnikov get to know something of the person they’re escorting – a tramp who doesn’t look anything like a tramp, who’s forgotten his name. Afterthoughts: From it’s opening paragraph I thought that this was going to be a humourous tale, but it turned out not to be. It’s more sorrowful than anything else. More interesting, is a musing on Siberia, where the place is made to sound as though it’s a land of wild beauty, and of freedom and of bountiful resource for the person that lives there (Chekhov makes it sound a bit like Alaska. He should have worked for the Siberian Tourist Board ). Siberia is where the tramp thinks he’s headed to as punishment for his crimes, but there remains a stumbling block. It’s this which brings sorrow to the tale. Worth reading for the Siberia bit and the descriptions of the characters, but other than that, a fairly average tale.
Notable Quote: “I am not afraid of Siberia,” the tramp went on muttering. “Siberia is just as much Russia and has the same God and Tsar as here. They are just as orthodox Christians as you and I. Only there is more freedom there and people are better off. Everything is better there. Take the rivers there, for instance; they are far better than those here. There’s no end of fish; and all sorts of wild fowl. And my greatest pleasure, brothers, is fishing.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

*Story read as part of my Checkin’ Off The Chekhov Shorts reading challenge.

Chekhov Shorts: Mire

Rob — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 22:42:25 +0000

Title: Mire
Date Read: 7th February 2012
Briefly: Lieutenant Alexandr Grigoryevitch Sokolsky arrives at the home of a young wealthy Jewess to collect money owed to his cousin, Kryukov. Keen to collect the money because it is getting loaned to him for his wedding, Sokolsky is confident that this is going to be a straightforward, uncomplicated visit. It turns out to be everything but.
Afterthoughts: This is a fairly lengthy tale from Chekhov, but it needs its length in order for the story to fully unfold. It’s also one of Chekhov’s complete stories i.e. it has a beginning, a middle and an end, so the reader is not left hanging or having to decide on an outcome for himself (which is often the case with Chekhov). Aside from this, Mire is definitely worth sticking with it for its entertainment factor. The Jewess is a real star of this one. She demonstrates with real comical effect that she’s gutsy, independent and brilliant cunning. I kept thinking of a black widow spider when I was reading this story, and how it attracts prey to its web where it manipulates and allures it. There may not be murder of anything as dark as that in this story, but the Jewess is certainly a mistress of allure and manipulation, and it’s poor old Sokolsky and Kryukov that find themselves on the receiving end of this devious woman’s enchantment.
Notable Quote: Exactly opposite the entrance, he saw sitting in a big low chair, such as old men use, a woman in an expensive Chinese dressing-gown, with her head wrapped up, leaning back on a pillow. Nothing could be seen behind the woollen shawl in which she was muffled but a pale, long, pointed, somewhat aquiline nose, and one large dark eye. Her ample dressing-gown concealed her figure, but judging from her beautiful hand, from her voice, her nose, and her eye, she might be twenty-six or twenty-eight.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

*Story read as part of my Checkin’ Off The Chekhov Shorts reading challenge.

Devouring De Maupassant: The First Snowfall

Rob — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:46:47 +0000

Title: The First Snowfall
Date Read: 06 February 2012
Available Online?: YES
Briefly: When a Norman gentleman takes his young Parisian wife home to live in his chateau, she becomes sad and melancholic about the loneliness of the place, and the cold conditions that she has to endure. Unable to take it any more she asks her husband to install a furnace in the castle, and when he refuses she comes up with a plan that can’t fail to grab the husband’s attention.
Afterthoughts: This is rather a sad tale from Maupassant (or more accurately, SAD as in Seasonal Affective Disorder), about a wife who is largely ignored by her husband until she does something so detrimental to her health, that she contracts a terminal illness. Rather than mourn about it though, the woman takes comfort in the fact that she is able to live out her final weeks in a place where she doesn’t have to endure the ‘hardships’ that she had to when she was fit and well. I hyphenated ‘hardships’ because I didn’t feel personally as though the woman’s life was all that bad, even with the author painting it in such a way. I’ve a feeling that I would have been more sympathetic towards the story’s protagonist had Maupassant created a stronger character, but in the end I just thought of her as being whiney and weak. A good story nonetheless, but one that feels quite trivial for the most part.
Notable Quote: She stretched out her shivering hands to the big flames. The glaring fire burned her face; but icy whiffs seemed to glide down her back and to penetrate between her skin and her underclothing. And she shivered from head to foot. Innumerable draughts of air appeared to have taken up their abode in the apartment, living, crafty currents of air as cruel as enemies. She encountered them at every moment; they blew on her incessantly their perfidious and frozen hatred, now on her face, now on her hands, and now on her back.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

*Story read as part of my Devouring De Maupassant reading challenge.

Devouring De Maupassant: Legend of Mont St. Michel

Rob — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:46:23 +0000

Title: Legend of Mont St. Michel
Date Read: 06 February 2012
Available Online?: YES
Briefly: The narrator recounts the legend of Saint Michel, and how the saint managed to vanquish the devil and expel him from Normandy.
Afterthoughts: In this story Maupassant not only waxes lyrical about the glorious Mont. St. Michel (well, who wouldn’t?), but he also gives an engaging account of the tussle between Normandy’s patron saint and the devil himself, which leads to the latter’s expulsion from the region. The saint’s method is all very cunning and underhand, but then again Maupassant does tell us that this version of the legend comes via the Lower Normandy peasant, who he describes as being ‘cunning, deceitful and tricky’. Make of this what you will, dear reader.
Notable Quote: The following morning at dawn I went toward it across the sands, my eyes fastened on this, gigantic jewel, as big as a mountain, cut like a cameo, and as dainty as lace. The nearer I approached the greater my admiration grew, for nothing in the world could be more wonderful or more perfect.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

*Story read as part of my Devouring De Maupassant reading challenge.

Short Story Review: ‘In Winter The Sky’ by Jon McGregor

Rob — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 08:29:13 +0000

Story Title: In Winter The Sky
Collection/Anthology?: This Isn’t The Sort Of Thing That Happens To Someone Like You (Bloomsbury)
Date Read: 3rd February 2012
Briefly: A young lad (George) gets involved in an unforgettable accident while returning home from a promising first date with his new girlfriend, Joanna.
Afterthoughts: McGregor demonstrates once again why he should be called the Heston Blumenthal of short fiction writing, with a story that’s unique, original and completely indescribable.

One could say that In Winter The Sky is two stories wrapped into one, but it isn’t. One could say that In Winter The Sky is one story told from two different perspectives, but it isn’t really that either. Perhaps the most accurate way to describe In Winter The Sky is to say that it’s a story told from two different perspectives, using two different literary forms with which to tell it; one form is a straightforward narrative, while the other is something of a mix between a poem and an explosion at a typesetter’s convention.

Regardless of my difficulties in describing what exactly In Winter The Sky is, I can say without a shadow of a doubt that the story’s unique construction works. I might have struggled at first figuring out the best way to read the story (one perspective is told on the left hand page, and the other on the right), but after settling on the decision to read the narrative part first, followed by the poetic, I found that the former was complimented beautifully by the latter, with it bringing a real colour and vibrancy – along with subtle tension – to the story as a whole.

Of course, McGregor’s decision to add a separate poetic layer to his story isn’t a random one. Aside from it offering him the perfect vehicle on which to rather profoundly describe the sparse beauty of the fenland landscape in which the story (and indeed the collection) is set, the poetic perspective is intrinsic to the story itself, with the character who’s scribing it (Joanna) being something of an aspiring writer.

So, another winning story from McGregor, and one that will be remembered fondly for a long time to come. Odd, because much of the story is rather macabre.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

This story was read as part of a review of the Jon McGregor short story collection, This Isn’t The Sort Of Thing That Happens To Someone Like You. If you want to find out more about this collection then I invite you to pop along to my forethoughts post for this title, or to take a trip over to the publisher page for this book.

Short Story Review: ‘Wonder About Parents’ by Alexander MacLeod

Rob — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 08:17:37 +0000

Story Title: Wonder About Parents
Collection/Anthology?: Light Lifting (Jonathan Cape)
Date Read: 3rd February 2012
Briefly: A father is prompted to reflect on past times of helplessness, when his family are affected by a lice infestation.
Afterthoughts: Another remarkable tale from MacLeod marked as much for its affecting power as for the author’s prowess in storytelling.

‘Wonder About Parents’ moves back and forwards through time, as a father looks back on moments of inability and helplessness. The story mainly switches between the present day and the dawning weeks of fatherhood, when a serious illness threatens the life of his first born. Interspersed in amongst the time shifts are facts about lice, taken mainly from a 1934 book by American bacteriologist Hans Zinsser, called Rats, Lice and History. It’s all rather unpleasant, and it makes one shift in one’s seat, but it all adds to the effect of uncomfortableness as a whole, because that is the very nature of this powerful and affecting story.

The entire story is presented using short and punchy sentences, which gives it a real sense of pace. This in turn not only the raises the anxiety level, but the sense of urgency too, making it feel as though events are moving too fast to be controlled. Every decent parent wants to feel as though they are always in control when it comes to caring for and protecting their child, but the main character in this story comes across as barely being able to.

‘Wonder About Parents’ is all hugely powerful, and so personal and intimate that one is left wondering (but hoping that it isn’t the case) whether MacLeod has gone through similarly trying times during his own fatherhood. OK, so almost every parent goes through the lice thing I know, but not so many have to deal with the pain and anguish of a gravely ill newborn. Regardless, MacLeod paints an impression of the pain, anguish and sense of helplessness, perfectly.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

This story was read as part of a review of the Alexander MacLeod short story collection, Light Lifting. If you want to find out more about this collection then I invite you to pop along to my forethoughts post for this title. I also encourage you to head on over to the publisher page for the book.

Short Story Review: ‘That Colour’ by Jon McGregor

Rob — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 20:43:29 +0000

Story Title: That Colour
Collection/Anthology?: This Isn’t The Sort Of Thing That Happens To Someone Like You (Bloomsbury)
Date Read: 2nd February 2012
Briefly: A couple (presumably married) share a tender moment when the woman declares her annual affection for the colour of the autumnal leaves which cover the trees opposite their home.
Afterthoughts: Rather than going with a longer piece of fiction to open his collection with, McGregor has chosen a story that’s short, warming and subtle in its power. It’s a story that’s so short it has to be considered a work of ‘flash fiction’, and McGregor utilises this briefest of storytelling forms perfectly, in honing in on the detail of an intimacy sparked by the memory of a colour, that is oh so tender but as equally fleeting. So fleeting is this moment in fact, that it would have gone unnoticed in a story of longer length. Here however, it’s magnified to flawless effect, which is dear reader, precise and clever storytelling.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

This story was read as part of a review of the Jon McGregor short story collection, This Isn’t The Sort Of Thing That Happens To Someone Like You. If you want to find out more about this collection then I invite you to pop along to my forethoughts post for this title, or to take a trip over to the publisher page for this book.

Short Story Review: ‘Miracle Mile’ by Alexander MacLeod

Rob — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 19:00:17 +0000

Story Title: Miracle Mile
Collection/Anthology?: Light Lifting (Jonathan Cape)
Date Read: 2nd February 2012
Briefly: As professional distance runners Mikey and Jamie routinely prepare for an important race, one of them drops a bombshell on the other which could affect their long-term friendship forever.
Afterthoughts: Any thoughts that I had about setting my expectations too high ahead of reading this collection, were quickly dispelled after reading this first story. Miracle Mile is breathtaking, and in so many ways.

Not only does one get an almost physical sense of the anxiety and stress that accompanies the build up to a professional distance race, one also gets a clear insight into the routines and levels of long-term commitment that are needed, in order to be able to compete in the sport at its highest level. It helps of course that MacLeod was a distance runner himself – he’s clearly brought a lot of his personal experience to this story – but it’s his language more than anything, and his ability to tell a story with so much clarity and vividness, that really brings this tale to life.

There’s a particular scene in Miracle Mile when the narrator (Mikey) recounts the time at high school when he and Jamie used to race through a railway tunnel, ahead of freight trains. This scene is incredibly well written, and so profoundly described with so much tension, that it’s simply unforgettable. I perhaps make it sound as though this scene is the highlight of Miracle Mile, but it’s not. Fact is, the story as a whole is a highlight, from its ‘biting’ opening where the athletes distract themselves from thoughts of the upcoming race – by watching one of sport’s most grisly moments i.e. Tyson ‘surgically’ removing part of Holyfield’s ear in the ring – through to the thrill of the race itself, and its aftermath. And all topped off with some icing on the cake – an ending that nobody would be able to see coming. Fantastic!

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

This story was read as part of a review of the Alexander MacLeod short story collection, Light Lifting. If you want to find out more about this collection then I invite you to pop along to my forethoughts post for this title. I also encourage you to make a trip over to the publisher page for the book.

Devouring De Maupassant: A Tress of Hair

Rob — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 22:29:17 +0000

Title: A Tress of Hair
Date Read: 30 January 2012
Available Online?: YES
Briefly: A lover of past times and antiques, discovers a hidden tress of hair in a piece of seventeenth-century furniture. He begins to become unhealthily obsessed with the object, to the point where he slowly descends into madness.
Afterthoughts: I adore this story, partly because it’s a beautiful mediation on a love for treasured historical objects (I kept thinking about my typewriters, but then I would wouldn’t I? ), but also because it’s a dramatic and powerful tale, much in the same vein as The Horla. It’s a tale that evolves from an appreciation of material objects to something a lot more disturbing, and for that reason it’s a story that’s unlikely to be forgotten once read. Yes folks, another wholly memorable tale from the pen-wielding master. What a genius!
Notable Quote: “Oh, I am sorry for those who do not know the honeymoon of the collector with the antique he has just purchased. One looks at it tenderly and passes one’s hand over it as if it were human flesh; one comes back to it every moment, one is always thinking of it, wherever ore goes, whatever one does. The dear recollection of it pursues you in the street, in society, everywhere; and when you return home at night, before taking off your gloves or your hat; you go and look at it with the tenderness of a lover.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

*Story read as part of my Devouring De Maupassant reading challenge.