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Title: Thirst by Ken Kalfus ISBN: 0-671-03482-0 Publisher: Washington Square Press Pub. Date: 01 September, 1999 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Average Customer Rating: 4.44 (18 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Mixed Bag of Tricks
Comment: The fourteen stories here (all previous published in various lit reviews) display an amazing range of styles and a great deal of promise. There is whimsical comedy is the opening two and half page "Notice" and in the faux records of "The Joy and Melancholy Baseball Trivia Quiz". There is a liberal dose of fantastical elements, such as the never-ending snowstorm of "The Weather in New York", the mysterious nomads of "A Line Is A Series of Points", or the dual-existence protagonist of "Night and Day You Are the One." There is also the unfortunately presence of the literary joke story "Invisible Malls" (a pastiche of the Italian writer Calvino's Invisible Cities), and a weak meaning semi-historical Borgesian effort "The Republic of St. Mark, 1849."
Kalfus's more "realistic" stories are equally uneven. The stories "Bouquet" and "Thirst" cover an encounter in Paris between an Irish nanny and an Moroccan, and are totally run-of-the-mill. The longest story is "No Grace On the Road" (at 40+ pages), a very awkwardly done story set in Vietnam about a young upper-class official caught in a storm out in the countryside with his American wife, and forced to shelter in a peasant's hovel, where a baby lies dying. It's a really clumsy piece, worthy of a college freshman writing class. On the positive side of the ledger, the brief "Cats in Space" is a simple and haunting story of kids being cruel to neighborhood animals. "Suit" is another short but sweet piece, about a boy being fitted for a suit for a court appearance. "Rope Bridge" is probably the most conventional story in the collection, concerning a man who lusts after a vivacious friend of his wife. But Kalfus treats the material with care and simplicity, creating an exquisite short work.
So, a typical first collection of very good pieces and some very bad pieces, with an atypical range of of styles and settings.
Rating: 5
Summary: A Writer's Writer
Comment: Ken Kalfus is an excellent writer. The range of stories in this book, combined with the grace and style with which they are written, demonstrate that. He can hop from setting to setting, and from style to style, and executes each with aplomb.
However, I will note that in this collection, while there is breadth, there isn't necessarily depth. This is a tasty candy, a frothy confection that dazzles. But it's not a meal. I felt the the emotional life of the characters was not as complex as the situations he set up demanded. There was a sense that the writing came first, the story after.
But this is a first book, and I certainly look forward to seeing him develop. The book is smart, funny, and beautifully written.
Rating: 5
Summary: Thirst
Comment: The stories are humbling and pure. At times, I whispered, " No, he is not going there.", but before I knew it, he had already taken me.
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Title: Pu-239 and Other Russian Fantasies: A Novella and Stories by Ken Kalfus ISBN: B00013AFZQ Publisher: Milkweed Editions Pub. Date: September, 1999 List Price(USD): $22.00 |
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Title: The Best American Essays 2003 by Robert Atwan, Anne Fadiman ISBN: 0618341617 Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Co Pub. Date: 10 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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