Babylon and Other Stories (Vintage Contemporaries) [Paperback]

Alix Ohlin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 12, 2007 | Series: Vintage Contemporaries

In their various locales--from Montreal (where a prosthetic leg casts a furious spell on its beholders) to New Mexico (where a Soviet-era exchange student redefines home for his hosts)--the characters in Babylon are coming to terms with life's epiphanies, for good or ill.

They range from the very young who, confronted with their parents' limitations, discover their own resolve, to those facing middle age and its particular indignities, no less determined to assert themselves and shape their destinies. Babylon and Other Stories showcases the wit, humor, and insight that have made Alix Ohlin one of the most admired young writers working today.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Ohlin's debut novel, The Missing Person (2005), featured a believably odd plot and displayed her chops in nailing contemporary idioms. The 17 stories of this collection do the same in miniature, but never quite fuse her characters and their circumstances. The title story refers to the name of the Long Island town where computer programmer Robert, 29, meets medical assistant Astrid; they begin a highly charged, highly compartmentalized relationship within a bubble of work-phone-apartment that may have a more solid foundation on its flaws than on its virtues. The opening "King of Kohlrabi" features a typically precocious teen, Aggie, who must cope with her father's abandoning his family for his law partner, Margaret; the story pivots around her clear voice as events, beginning with a minor car accident, spin out of control. In "I Love to Dance at Weddings," Leda, following the death of her husband of 27 years, marries three times in succession, arousing a tangle of emotions in her son, Nick, and Nick's wife, Nathalie. Ohlin is expert in rendering the haze of alienation that hangs over all her characters' relationships and their various suburban settings. The stories read like hopeless, tightly constructed variations on unhappiness, a Babylon where communication is as impossible as it is pointless. (Aug. 1)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

This diverse collection of short stories covers some of the same themes of family and change found in Ohlin's debut novel, The Missing Person (2005). In the title story, a man falls in love for the first time, only to discover that his mysterious beloved is a pathological liar. In "Edgewater," Flannery O'Connor's "Good Country People" is turned upside down when a woman steals the fake leg of her would-be seducer. Ohlin's writing is by turns serious and humorous without being either melodramatic or slapstick. It is full of language quirks that are personal but also easily understandable to the reader. T.S. Eliot called this literary technique the "objective correlative," and the stories "The Tennis Partner" and "In Trouble with the Dutchman" both have excellent examples. Many of the stories deal with what remains unspoken between husband and wife. Two interlocking stories, "The Swanger Blood" and "An Analysis of Some Recent Troublesome Behavior," about a troubled family, seem to be the beginning of a longer novel or series of stories. Marta Segal
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Vintage (June 12, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400031397
• ISBN-13: 978-1400031399
• Product Dimensions: 5.3 x 0.6 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,273,045 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Relationships examined close up..., September 6, 2007

By 

Armchair Interviews (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Babylon and Other Stories (Hardcover)

Babylon and Other Stories is a collection of short stories. The characters are realizing a universal truth: that life is full of change and, unfortunately, suffering. Sometimes this is delivered quietly, such as a medical check up and other times it is abrupt--the end of a relationship. Some of the issues that are raised are commitment, abuse and identity. However, there is also hope, love and humor in these stories.

This collection explores different relationships: parent to child, siblings, spouse, friends, etc. Like the city of Babel with its different languages, each character has a distinct voice and a story to share. The characters are engaging and each story has great pacing. We meet Natalie and her husband Nick. They are trying to be supportive of Nick's mother's fourth wedding. There's Kyle who is getting ready to play tennis with his father's old nemesis. And Aggie who is trying to come to terms with her dad's decision to leave his family so that he can be with his girlfriend.

One of my favorite stories was "Transcription." Carl came to live with his Uncle Walter after Carl's mom died. Now Carl is older and the roles have been reversed. Walter didn't like the retirement home and Carl has brought Walter to live with him. Carl works from home as a medical transcriber and he is used to being detached when typing medical reports. He struggles to balance emotions and objectivity as he decides on the type of care that Walter needs and wants.

Ohlin teaches at Lafayette College and she is a true wordsmith, I found myself repeating phrases. Some examples: "Her mother was in her element in the shopping mall; she responded to the filtered light and Muzak like some kind of specialized plant." (p.54) and "Henry's hearing disappeared slowly, over a year, each day turning fainter and blurrier, like a repeated photocopy." (p.109).

Armchair Interviews says: Reading Ohlin's collection of short stories is like eating potato chips. It's hard to stop at just one!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars well written relationship tales, August 2, 2006

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Babylon and Other Stories (Hardcover)

This seventeen short story collection are well written relationship tales in which a character either purposely or more likely inadvertently alienates someone close to them with behavior that seems irrational to the latter. Alas, nobody communicates in Babylon, Long Island or the other suburban/rural settings so dysfunction becomes the norm for all. In some ways this anthology is a series of shorts similar to the reflection of life in Alix Ohlin's novel THE MISSING PERSON. Not easy to read, these are complex haunting tales starring in most cases depressing characters who remind this reviewer of the Marmalade song Reflections of My Life as they seen not to want to live, but also not want to die.

Harriet Klausner