The Keyhole Opera [Paperback]

I will say, up front, that I am a huge fan of the author's prose. It steps gracefully between and among genres, defying the usual dreary and artificial cages of literary classifications. Fantasy? Yep, there's some of that. Horror? Now and then. So-called "literary" fiction? Yes, but not in the pretentious sense. Overall, I consider Bruce Holland Rogers a damned good writer, so good that his stories seem almost effortless. And yet he writes with a discipline that would shame a monk.

The Keyhole Opera is an excellent example of what that discipline can produce. I've edited a "flash fiction" magazine for years (Vestal Review), and I am in awe of writers who can create a full-blown story in 500 words (our maximum) or less. It's not an art at which I excel; it's not an art at which many excel. It requires a knowledge of the essentials, but more: an instinct for the impact of words, individual and together; a talent for precision; the ability to cut, cut, cut and, in doing so, to gain through distillation. A decent "flash" story has all this; a superb "flash" story has all this, plus a compelling plot and interesting characters. Bruce Holland Rogers can do it all, and wrap the whole package in whimsy. The stories in this book--even the shortest of them--are written with a deft touch that permits them to hang out in the reader's brain long after the reading.

The Keyhole Opera has one of the most apt book titles of the age. Each story in it is a piece of life glimpsed through a keyhole; and yet, each stolen glance tells a larger story, with a plot and characters, because of the skill with which its brevity is wrought. The stories are typical Rogers--meaning they're pretty much all over the lot in genre, seem deceptively simple in execution, and are spiced with subtle humor--and they range from fairy tales and fantasy (the most famous of which might be "The Dead Boy at your Window"), small parables and slightly longer and more traditional tales (my favorite, "As Far East," falls into this category), to "symmetrinas," a form that Rogers invented that strings theme-related stories with a pattern of rigid word counts into a symmetrical chain (the 11 short-shorts in "Dead White Guys" set the talents and personalities of famous US historical figures in modern times). Most of the stories have been published in literary magazines; many have won awards.

Rogers takes chances here and there--playing with narrative point of view, inventing and re-inventing folk tales (one ends before the standard payoff, leaving the reader to fill in the cliched blanks), blending personal disaster in a culinary recipe (all in a very short and complete story, the wryly hilarious "Lydia's Orange Bread")--as he does in all his books. Most of the time, I believe, the adventure pays off. A very entertaining book, worth its five stars.

Susan O'Neill, author, Don't Mean Nothing: Short Stories of Viet Nam

Bruce Holland Rogers is a true Master of the short-short story. Read and enjoy.

I am not one to post a review, but I must say this fellow's work is most addictive. It is thoughtful and quite brilliant! I find myself scratching my head and thinking about what I have read hours after I have finished reading.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 5 reviews  4.4 out of 5 stars