Customer Reviews

Soft Maniacs: Stories

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Love isn't always like a Hallmark card. No more than Family Life is always like a Rockwell painting. Birthdays aren't always happy, and families aren't always made from relatives.

If anything, Life is more like an Arbus photograph: strange and vulnerable and damaged and beautiful all at once.

Human beings are imperfect creatures. And, in spite of this, we somehow manage to connect with each other.

In SOFT MANIACS, Maggie Estep captures this reality brilliantly. Comprised of nine intertwined stories which show two women - Jody, a sexually insatiable and unstable psychiatrist, and Katie, an assistant in forensic psychology who spent her youth traveling with her lion-tamer father and the circus - as shown through the eyes of the men who have loved them, this collection is like GEEK LOVE from the inside. Instead of being physically different, the characters in SOFT MANIACS could easily be called Freaks of the Heart.

Just like real humans.

This book is beautiful and resonant and will utterly disappoint anyone searching for a tenderly-narrated Rockwell-esque vision of love at the end of the century. But those of us who live in Reality will see the reflection of the darkest and most profound secrets of our hearts, and how in spite of our imperfections, we still have hope.

Soft Maniacs was difficult to get into, however personally, it didn't take me too long to adjust; it was real without being real. It was honest on the most perverted of levels; arousing and saddening. I discovered Maggie via Alan Wilder's spoiled brainchild, Recoil, to which she collaborated on Unsound Methods, which didin't hook me entirely until I listened to Love is a Dog from Hell. Maggie is itchy and unique, and definitely for those who veer toward the freakier side of fiction. I don't recommend her to all people, only those willing to recognise that perverse weirdness in us all.

Maggie fans will not be let down by her latest book, "Soft Maniacs." It is a collection of short stories with characters that cross over from story to story. Most of the stories are about 20-30 somethings in New York City; however, Maggie does branch out into carnival workers. As with her previous book, "Diary of an Emotional Idiot," Maggie's recent work is full of unusual people described with Maggie's irrististable wit. Fans of Maggie's earlier work will likely notice a hint of maturity which only serves to strengthen her latest work.

I'm a fast reader, and I've been known to devour books in less than a single day, but I think I set a new record when I read "Soft Maniacs." Faster isn't necessarily better, but I couldn't put the thing down. I met Maggie (Miss Estep) on a Friday night (on which she gave me a copy of her first book). By her book signing the next day, I had read through "Diary of an Emotional Idiot" once and was almost half-way through it a second time. I bought "Soft Maniacs" that Saturday, and have read it 4 times since then. It's a fantastic series of intertwined short-stories that you won't regret reading.

Few books can elicit outright belly-laughs as well as gather empathetic tears. Estep paints her characters so well and each has a distinctive and original voice, it's breathtaking in it's scope and fluidity. Essentially a "small world, isn't it?" collection following two women, this book really delves fiercely into the male psyche as all the stories are written from a male character's point of view - and it's spot on. These people live and breathe within these pages, in vivid reality, and Maggie Estep proves herself to be one of the essential artists of our times. And she'll also beat your Mom at Scrabble - she's good with words; she's a poet, remember?

This book is a treasure - I loved the way the stories were related and how you'd travel along a story and it would turn completely into something you had not expected, some of the lines were so hilarious I had to highlight them so I can repeat them to friends. And I'm still thinking about Jody and trying to figure her out. All in all this is a very cool read.

Short fiction is hard to come by these days, But estep comes into the scene in full force. I am not sure how good her novels are, but her short works hold quite a few gems.

Ms. Estep has created an interesting, fast paced world here in her book Soft Maniacs. The books is well written, funny, sad, and at times a bit disturbing. I found it to be very similar to David Schickler's, "Kissing in Manhattan." The main difference is that the sexual deviance in this book seems to be a little more realistic and plausable.

The arc of stories follows a handful of characters and how their lives intertwine. For the most part the stories, while out there, were really good. My one problem with the book is that the characterization is a bit weak at times. The author is so driven by making these characters and plots meet at weird places and then bounce back into space that we're left with only a few real, three dimensional people. (The horse attendant with the bad back for example). At times the narrators seem to be capable of great introspection and insight, however the choices they have made in their lives contradict this intelligence.

I would say you should read this, its quick, fun, funny, and interesting. Not a great literary work, but not trash either.

Maggie Estep's narrative voice shines remarkably well in this series of meticulously interconnected short stories. She's got a way with words -- so much so that even in this collection, in which she's writing through the voices of various men who go through the lives of two women, we're still listening unmistakenably to Estep's voice. And we wouldn't have it any other way. The situations in this story are often hilarious, the characters are wonderfully drawn, and the unique ways the stories are interconnected are a joy to unravel. I read it a few weeks ago, and the characters are remaining with me like I read it yesterday. A highly recommended, very entertaining book to read... try it in one sitting. It flows so nicely, you won't even realize you've just been reading for hours. Estep keeps getting better and better with every book... I, for one, am really looking forward to her next release.

I obtained a copy of this book from Maggie, and have not been able to stop reading (much to the annoyance of my teachers in class). The book is wonderfully well-written, is pulled together tightly but still has a natural grace and flow to it. The writing is superb, as is the realism of characters for which Maggie has such a gift.