Customer Reviews

How I Came West, and Why I Stayed

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Alison Baker is to the surprise beginning what O Henry was to the surprise ending. "Benny Sarver knows what's going on in the lab where they clone babies out of one-eyed frogs." "The summer is so hot there's a spontaneous human combustion on the South Side." The stories that follow are eccentric, ironic, minimalist tales, which basically involve two pairs of human partners or a human couple and animals. The animals include bears, flamingos, deer, African bullfrogs and even dogs. The people are cowboys, ornithologists, Mormons, biochemists, gymnasts and cheerleaders. Quite delightful. One quibble is about the representation of Indian English. I am knowing many Indian doctors and and never I am hearing the continuous present. I am thinking this is how Americans are thinking Indians are talking.

An author for both readers and writers.

For readers and writers both, Alison Baker's imaginative short story collection of classic literary humor will make you laugh so hard you'll cry and cry so hard you'll laugh--at yourself--for being so moved by her quirky "living" characters and the situations they find themselves in. You may still feel yourself in a trance after you've closed the book. In fact, readers might find themselves looking for Baker's "people" in their neighborhood grocery store, movie house, or while on a vacation spurred by wanting to check the veracity of Baker's details. Some readers will wish they could have a conversation with their favorite characters, maybe ask a question or two, and many readers will have fallen in love with one or more "fictional" people and not want the stories to end. Observant writers will notice that one reason these stories come to life is that Baker is a master of switchback time, defined by Joan Silber (The Art of Time in Fiction) as a melding of past, present, and future into the deepest fabric of the story so that all elements of time are given equal weight. When reading Baker's stories, we feel as if the door that allows us to eavesdrop on the hidden secrets of ongoing lives has been opened for us to step inside, and, as we yearn to learn more, relevant details from the past and future are revealed. Baker combines the realism of Alice Munro and the humor of Kurt Vonnegut, giving writers many lessons on how to achieve a more sophisticated level of storytelling.

This is a wonderful read! Let me add that "Margaret Mead" is absolutely hilarious. I almost split a gut reading it to my wife. Baker gets the language just right, so we can feel the character in the chosen words! This one story makes this a must-have book, but many stories here are daring, joyful, and stimulating. (Just a suggestion: To understand the story on page 93 a bit better, read The Flute of God by Paul Twitchell - or one of the books by Harold Klemp.)

Baker writes beautiful, entertaining stories. Though there are highs and lows throughout this book, each story was thought provoking and amusing. You can't get too comfortable (read: bored) while reading these stories- Baker always keeps you wondering where she will take her characters next. Great beginnings of the stories help catch your attention, and the ride through the rest of the story until you reach the end where everything comes together is a fun one you won't soon forget. This collection of short stories is definately worth a read.