"The Rest of Her Life" by Steve Yarbrough

I picked up one of my short story anthologies tonight, cracked a cold beer, and started scanning names and titles.  I went with a Steve Yarbrough story because I saw him speak a couple of months ago at the Newburyport Literary Festival, and he was a trip.  He's this immediately noticeable man with flowing blonde hair and a deep Southern drawl.  Since I always like to Biff, aka BFF, aka make best friends with, famous people, I made a point to ask him about his comment on Truman Capote short stories after  his talk.  He, like me, loves Capote's ghost story, "Miriam".  All of this gave me high hopes for his story.

As I move through the short story literature, I've been coming across, or perhaps I've been draw to, very literary, and sometimes abstract, short stories.  These stories teach me a lot about craft, pacing, language, and what it takes to create a character that can live off of the page.

Yarbrough does all of that in TROHL, but there's more here that I connected with.  Teenage Dee Ann should be worrying about nothing other than sneaking around with her boyfriend Chuckie, but her mother's murder turns her world upside down.  But it's also a story about what the men in her life do to Dee Ann, or what they will always fail to do.  Yarbrough's sensitivity to his female protagonist impressed me.  Yarbrough could be the spawn of Raymond Carver and Ann Hood.  Emotion is salvaged, even highlighted, within his sparing, realist approach.

I'll look for more Yarbrough after this.  If you've read this story, I'd love to know what you think of Dee Ann's final decision.  Why did she lie?  I'm chewing on that question after the story's put down---always a good sign.

"The Faery Handbag" by Kelly Link

"The Faery Handbag" is the first story in Kelly Link's collection entitled Magic for Beginners and was a gift from my husband for Mother's Day.  I had never heard of this book and I've heard of every book in the known world, so big ups to Andrew for surprising me.  It's covered in rave reviews and my first thought upon seeing it is that it looks incredibly weird.  Right up my alley.

We're talking magic realism, fantasy, make-believe here, which makes my brain go a little wiggly because isn't all fiction make-believe?  Well, you say, fiction consists of stories that could happen.  This story is about a grandmother who carries a purse that can hold an entire village of Baldeziwurlekistanians.  That could never happen.  The fact that I think that technically it could, or might, demonstrates that I'm also weird, and therefore a great fit for this genre.

I can't help but compare "Faery" to last week's reading of Alice Munro.  I can't help it.  Forgive me if I offend anyone.  

Here's the thing.  Munro, as I told you, is like a Picasso.  I could never have a Picasso in my house.  I spill things constantly.  The poor Picasso would be covered in Diet Coke or ketchup within a week.  But I appreciate great art.  I know a Picasso is genius which is why I would respect it enough to keep it away from me (aside from the obvious financial constraints). 

Link's writing is not Picasso, but I mean that as a compliment.  Link's stories are like the fun vintage painting of a door with handles that look like hands that I'm seeing right now above my computer screen, or the cute owl picture I got at Ikea last year.  They make me feel warm and happy and like it's okay to be myself around them.

Faery is a great story with tremendous depth.  It follows Genevieve (coincidentally the name I chose for myself in 7th grade French class) and her grandmother Zofia in their quest to protect a very special purse filled with hundreds of people.  As you can imagine, hijinks ensue and questions linger at the end of this wonderfully weird story.  What I loved about it, aside from the bizarre plot, was how Link writes in such a way that what is completely insane and unfathomable feels like it is also happening at this very moment in your own backyard.  

Ms. Link apparently likes to share, so I found the story free on her website.  All of my fellow weirdos, enjoy.