From Publishers Weekly
A host of distinctive, genuine characters, all at the mercy of life's folly and its slapdash potential, parade through Australian writer Bail's unconventional new collection of 14 short stories. Devoid of any kind of unifying theme, the volume includes several tales that play out as bizarre, abstract vignettes, while others are stunningly vivid and affecting, as in the standout opening story "The Seduction of My Sister." In it, a boy who feels that his younger sister is a terrible pest concocts an increasingly dangerous outdoor game with a new neighbor. Lobbing progressively larger household items back and forth over the rooftops makes for hours of amusement, until his sister poses the ultimate dare. The vacuum of smalltown life may have gotten the better of Sid in "Life of the Party." Perched high and dry in his son's tree house, Sid observes as neighbors and friends congregate drunkenly in his backyard for a barbecue he never bothers to host. In "Huebler," a man embarks on the "strange ambitious task" of photographing every living person and cataloguing each in a uniquely identifying category, i.e., "At least one person who may outlive art." In the title story, middle-aged Eric Banerjee, a married Adelaide piano tuner, is drafted in 1943 and sent to Australia's Northern Territory. After surmounting some initial shyness, he bonds with the other men in his troop, conceding that these are indeed "his happiest days." Bail (Homesickness) is at his strongest when writing from the shadowy corners of suburbia, much like A.M. Homes. The book's organizational structure suffers from a jarring irregularity, and a few entries, though they demonstrate the author's love of all things peculiar, seem thrown in as afterthoughts. Still, this is an illuminating, dexterously written collection, wildly uneven but uniformly potent.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
--Ce texte provient d'une édition qui n'est plus publiée ou qui est non diponible.
From Library Journal
Readers who enjoy fanciful, postmodern work in the tradition of Donald Barthelme and Italo Calvino will enjoy this delightful collection of gleefully absurdist short stories by acclaimed Australian writer Bail (Homesickness). Anyone who approaches these stories with patience and an open mind will find many pleasures the least of which are Bail's inventiveness and gentle humor. In "Life of the Party," for example, a suburban husband invites his friends over for a cookout while his wife and children are out of town and then spends the entire time spying on them from his son's treehouse as they enjoy the party without him. "Huebler" features a photographer who is determined to document the existence of everyone alive. He begins by establishing a list of people to photograph, which includes "at least one person who is incapable of sin" and "at least one person who always has the last word." Enthusiastically recommended. Patrick Sullivan, Manchester Community Coll., CT
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
--Ce texte provient d'une édition qui n'est plus publiée ou qui est non diponible.
