Customer Reviews

Signal Hill

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

 

 

Five Stars for effort: Three stars for result. Alan Rifkin knows how to write. He comes to this minor collection of short stories with credentials in journalism and creative writing. And it seems he has an idea of where he eventually hopes to arrive - in the peopled tarmac called Los Angeles. But in these stories (actually four short stories and a novella from which the collection derives its title) Rifkin pens sketches of ideas of personalities and psychology that in the end are fairly shallow. True, the very isolated psyches of people living on the freeways headed to momentary entanglements with other isolationists might just be a valid view of Angelinos. But to make us care about them we need more fluid style of telling and a few sidebar mirrors to reflect the hollow faces of these folk, perhaps finding a home within our memories when the book is finished. Not quite there yet. But sounds like real stories may come down the multiple off ramps!

I was deeply struck as I read the four stories and novella that comprise Alan Rifkin's Signal Hill at how in touch with the human experience the author is. His stories are filled with gentle touches of characters' self deprecating humor, as they realize, through loss, regret, and occasional momentary triumphs, how precious, while maddening, everyday life can be. He gave me a whole new appreciation for Long Beach and its hilltop neighbor, Signal Hill, these good-hearted provincial outposts of the big city that looms just up the Harbor Freeway. His stories remind me of some of the best of Philip Roth's early works. I look forward to reading more revelation from Mr. Rifkin.

Rifkin can write a sentence like no one since Henry James. The movement and rhythm of his prose suggests the style of a craftsman mixed with the touch of one inspired. The book is not just great technically, though. It's also funny (witness the scene where Richard Leviton gives himself a haircut), moving, and poignant, sometimes all in the same scene.

The thing that stands out above all else is the sense that even though all the people Rifkin portrays are firmly grounded--in the Valley, in the desert, in Signal Hill--they're all completely lost in the mindscape that is the real geography of LA. This is the book's great revelation and what will keep readers intrigued as the make their way through the pages as well as interested in coming back to the book again and again.

Signal Hill Stories is an outstanding anthology showcasing of five original short stories revolving around the boys and men of Los Angeles by Alan Rifkin. Each deftly written tale is filled with longing for something seemingly unreachable, whether for a parental figure, the drive for sex, or the desire to simply get life right. Signal Hill Stories is an absorbing window into dispirited lives and the quest for meaning amidst the ghosts of a multifaceted and often deceptive urban sprawl. The stories comprising this outstanding compendium include: "The Honor System"; "The Idols of Sickness"; "Sonority"; "After the Divorce"; and the title story, "Signal Hill".