Customer Reviews

Unkempt: Stories

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a terrific read, funny and tragic and powerful. It's a little edgy like Lorrie Moore, but much more intimate, more personal. You're really inside the characters' thoughts, which are mostly going at warp speed. The tone is urban and energetic, not to mention pretty neurotic most of the time. These are characters with Issues, and usually they're quite aware of them. One woman is deathly afraid of sharks in swimming pools -- she knows there are not sharks in swimming pools, but she's constructed a very elaborate rationale for her fears. But the anxieties and neuroses are cut with great personal warmth and intimacy, not to mention great humor. Even the title story, which develops from a rather breezy look at a woman estranged from her daughter to a very intense and direct portrait of What

Went Wrong, even this story has some laugh-out-loud material. It ends on a nicely optimistic note, too. The Former World Record Holder of the last story, whose record was as pornographic as records get, she settles down and discovers her Inner Wife and Bowler. And it's beautifully plausible, beautifully real, like all these stories.

It's easy to coast along and admire the breadth of vernacular on display in Unkempt and forget that there is one virtuostic voice at work, and she hears EVERYTHING -- every fragment of consciousness, every syllable of contemporary anguish, every exhalation. There are a lot of writerly fragments and run-ons running amok out there, but these are the most perfectly flawed sentences I've seen in many years. Eldridge has an incredible perception of what's going on in the minds of apparently everyone who walks down her street, and a rhythmic sensibility for making it understood. While all of these stories at first appear to be messy tangents, they serve as well-scrubbed mirrors.

In this original, brilliant collection of short stories, New Yorker Courtney Eldridge offers us a twisted, askew glimpse into the darkest corners of the human mind and the fears of our present society. Eldridge does this with a razor-sharp eye, candidness, and a wacky sense of humor.

Unkempt has seven stories and one novella, and presents an array of desperate and pathetic characters who either are trying to cope with the helplessness of their lives, or are completely and painfully unaware of it: a blocked writer who systematically erases everything she writes, a woman who thinks there are sharks in regular swimming pools, a lady who is unaware she has obsessive-compulsive disorder, a clerk at a retail store who is accosted by demented customers, an alcoholic mother who can't understand her daughter's behaviour, and ex-porn star who now is trying to keep her first "real" relationship afloat... these are some of the characters you'll meet in this darkly hilarious anthology.

The author's writing style can be quite smothering at times, as no quotation marks or new paragraphs are used to separate dialogue. It is a clever technique to infuse the same feelings of "confusion" and "desperation" to the reader as the ones the character is feeling. That said, Eldridge's writing is incredibly revealing and illuminating. In fact, the ability to combine these two aspects is Eldridge's gift. The following passage, taken from "Sharks," perfectly exemplifies the writing style used throughout the book:

"You honestly believe there are sharks at the Sol Goldman Y? I asked. It's not about believing; it's about my fear. This is my fear I'm talking about. I got that much, I said. Well, there you go, she said. You asked, I told you. No, you're right, okay. But tell me this, what happens if you get into a swimming pool? I asked. I don't unless I have to, she said. But if you went to a pool, wouldn't you be able to see the sharks, swimming around in the pool? I mean, wouldn't somebody notice that there was a shark in the pool? Or do they have a cloaking device, too? Very funny, she says, but the answer is no. No, you wouldn't necessarily see them. They just wait, she said. You mean the sharks wait somewhere in the pool? I asked, clarifying again. Yes, she said. Where? Where would they wait, the drain? I don't know where they might be waiting, see, that's the thing. They could me waiting anywhere. Of course, I said."

Some passages, like the one above, made this reviewer laugh out loud. Yet the message is undeniably troubling: people live in irrational fear these days, and this specific story can very well serve as an allegory for the present state of terrorism. Though Eldridge's style is different in many ways, it is in some aspects similar to Tama Janowitz's. Certainly both combine the sharp eye, dark hilarity, and askew angles of probing into the deepest corners of the human mind. If there's only one negative comment to say about this collection, that would have to be a certain lack of versatility. The stories are original, but the "voice" behind all of them at times sound the same. However, this doesn't take away the fact that Unkempt is an intriguing, fascinating anthology, one this reviewer is very glad to have read.

As another reviewer said, this seemed more a collection of trains of thought than stories. That said, there are a few gems mixed in, ones that will definitly stick with me. It's digging through the practically incoherent sections that are a pain. Some stories I skipped almost entirely, others I skimmed or read ahead. For less than $2, it's worth it, as it's not a total waste and she is a good writer. I think I'd be more interested in the many stories she starts and doesn't finish - maybe if she invested the time into one of those she did here it would pay off.

Courtney Eldridge does things with the short story that I didn't know were possible. I found her work via her essay "Thanks, But No Thanks" in the anthology Alone In The Kitchen With an Eggplant, and was blown away by her inventiveness as well as straightforward style. She jumps right into her stories, and it's often a few pages before readers have adjusted to the voices of her pull-no-punches characters, who talk to you like you should already know them. They can be pushy and demanding, like the caller in "Becky," who simply won't take no for an answer. Told in a series of phone messages, Eldridge paints a woman so needy for human attention she's willing to beg, yet its her subtle but barbed backhanded compliments showing her bitchy side that makes this story a winner.

It's hard to pick a favorite here, because each story has its own quirky appeal. The characters who don't seem to be aware of how fucked up they are were charming, but the ones who did, or who at least questioned their interactions with the people around them, like the mom in "Unkempt," lured me in. Yes, she's an alcoholic and I'm sure the story could've been told from her lesbian daughter's POV with a completely different result, but that would've been a story we'd read before. Instead, Eldridge, as she does throughout the book, gives voice to the kinds of people we're unlikely to hear from, like the gangbang former record holder who just wants someone to love her, in the final story. The title story also had one of my favorite passages in the whole book: "Honestly, though, when I found out that my daughter was gay, I was relieved. I thought, Thank god, at least she's having sex with someone. I mean, I couldn't figure out where she'd developed this great love of women, but I figured that was probably naive. Because I certainly know men who don't like women, and that doesn't stop them from being heterosexual."

And any writer will surely relate to the author narrator of "Fits & Starts," who can't seem to get past the first sentence of any given story, rambling this way and that with a stream of consciousness style that tries to mask her self-consciousness over her work. Her contemplation of whether you're allowed the courtesy of a first paragraph, first sentence, or first five words to make your mark is just the sort of self-absorbed, mad thinking I'm sure most of us (ahem) are capable of. It's also a wonderful introduction to the book and Eldridge's style of writing, which is often like someone talking your ear off a mile a minute, maybe like a slightly deranged person you'd meet on the subway, but they have a glimmer of coolness, something that makes them, yes, crazy, but also intriguing. Her characters are lovably neurotic, some more fearful or freaky than others, yet before you can totally distance yourself, they've drawn you in both to their stories and the more universal themes they speak to. In "The Former World Record Holder Settles Down," the narrator has to deal with her husband's jealousy over her promiscuous past, his incessant curiosity about her former line of work, even when she wants to forget about it. You may not want to hang out with the types of characters Eldridge writes about in real life, but on the page, you'll want to see just how close to exploding they can get. This is a wonderful, original debut and I look forward to reading much more of Eldridge's work.

Why aren't there more young writers, particularly young women writers, like Eldridge? I haven't read anyone in a long, long time with such an ability to find humor at exactly the moment before it becomes inappropriate. She's a brave original. Perfectly placed, brilliant, warm, wise writing. Always just this side of scary. (Kind of like a shark in a swimming pool, in fact; feel free to start with "Sharks.") The novella "The Former World Record Holder Settles Down" is a masterpiece, and that's not only because I'm someone who's captivated by any character who has a sex dream about Don Zimmer. Eldridge knows, in great detail, how laughable human beings are-particularly New York human beings-and that's the best part. So sharp, so sweet.

I loved this brilliant short story collection. And once I got used to Ms. Eldridge's very unusual, distinct style, I loved it even more. In the hilarious "Fits and Starts," the narrator describes her writing process and more specifically, what happens to those imperfect first sentences; In "Sharks," the narrator meets with a friend hoping to take her swimming only to discover the friend is terrified of scientists experimenting with sharks in the public pools. What makes this story so funny is the fact that Eldridge knows so well the infinite answers the neurotic mind will provide to support its fear; in "Summer of Mopeds," the narrator recalls a painful childhood memory; a food-adict makes herself a phone pest in "Becky;" And the last in the collection, the novella "The Former World Record Holder Settles Down," is nothing short of brilliant. Eldridge uses first person narration to its fullest advantage showing the reader the narrator's denial and painful process of moving beyond a past that holds her prisoner.

Ms. Eldridge captures moments of true neurotic expression in her new book. And she presents them to the reader in her own unique manner. Her work is often experimental, but not `Bohemian' in this well crafted portrait of people and their private neurotic fears and moments. Truly just for her fine portrayal of these psychic anomalies there is plenty of justification to purchase and read this fine book. As a first book, it is quite well done.

Without revealing any plot lines it is worth noting that the following neurotic symptomologies are portrayed beautifully in her book of stories: writer's block, fear of sharks, belief in little invisible elves in the night, fear of intimacy, hypochondria, fear of success, obsessive-compulsive behavior, alcoholism, eating disorders, paranoid behavior and promiscuity. The list is formidable, and so are the stories.

The author has an extremely acute sense of being well understood and articulated in both the beginning of the story and the end of the story. She talks about it in her first story. And in that regard, she has truly succeeded, her stories illustrate both wonderful beginnings and truly ironic and interesting endings; while some of her middles could have been 5 to 10 pages shorter and still gotten the same message across. Nonetheless, the book does stand out, particularly as a debut offering, as one which shows an author with a talented future.

Special commentary is deserved on the title story, "unkempt." Of all the stories in the book, this one truly just works right. It holds the reader's attention very strongly as she moves through this very wonderful tale; which somehow has a little something in it for everyone. This story is the cornerstone of a developing writing style that is tremendously powerful and also insightful, entertaining and deeply philosophical; yet unique to Ms. Eldridge alone. Here she shows what she can do as the writer, when she is so in touch with her subject that she can `dance it' as well as write it. So well, that it seems at least to be partially autobiographical; but only Courtney knows that for sure. The book is recommended for those who like finely written contemporary fiction.

What are the criteria for a short story? When does a literate exercise achieve form and substance? And when is prose just self-indulgent rambling, a finger touching on the collective unconscious? The first page of fiction is critical for me, be it short story or novel, even, as the author says, the first five words, where I am drawn to a manuscript or turn away from it. Eldridge's first offering "Fits and Starts", is a challenge; I am not attracted to precocious writing or semantic acrobatics: "What happens is I write a first sentence, then I read the sentence that I've just written..." The author makes gratuitous use of "so far, see, consequently, oh and what's more", segueing into another direction from the original. From there I move on to "Sharks", a rambling dialog with a friend who has unusual fears, a contretemps between friends, more of an overheard conversation of the kind one imagines between young people with ubiquitous cell phones clutched to their ears, terrified of being alone with silence.

I try one more, "Thieves", a letter of dispute with a credit card company that serves as a vehicle for another digression: a fraudulent purchase, a writer whose story was stolen and a disturbed shopper, an anecdotal mélange without resolution, only the signature, "Courtney Eldridge". To avoid an accusation of snap judgment, I read the title story of the collection, a novella that deals with a mother-daughter tug-of-war, apparently the common denominator of the relationship, hiding a painful history. Only in "Unkempt" is there any intimation of depth, but even this flash of insight is relegated to the last page.

Some of the most rewarding short story collections I have read recently (Christopher Coake's We're in Trouble, Matthew Kneale's Small Crimes in an Age of Abundance) are concise, intellectually stimulating and rewarding. At best, Unkempt is a stream-of-consciousness diary. Perhaps Eldridge's effort is the obvious offshoot of chick-lit and will enjoy a ready audience. Certainly, the stories appeal to critics and many readers, but I reserve the right to disagree, plagued by a sense that someone is putting one over on me, the irony hiding a smirk. Unkempt is unfinished, flirting with emotions without the courage to confront conflict and resolve it...all of the stories end in a psychological "whatever!", defined by avoidance, like a sullen adolescent refusing to talk about her problems, clutching an ipod and the soothing chatter of a cell phone, the neurosis of a generation, revealing more by what is unsaid than the torrent of words that fill the pages.

Hailed for her literary inventiveness, editorial reviews applaud these quirky, irreverent stories, suggesting comparisons with literary ironists, accolades of appreciation. But I don't find this work remotely accessible, too clever by half, the irony drowned by excess. I don't mind working hard on a book, but I do mind the mental anguish involved in wading through unfettered prose. Neurosis is exhausting and Unkempt makes me want a stiff drink or an overdose of Prozac. Am I out of step with the times? I feel like an old rocker at a hip hop venue. Perhaps Eldridge is the prototypical writer of the future, her mind a seething cauldron of inventiveness and conflicting thoughts, none held back. That's the beauty of books- there's something for everyone. Luan Gaines/2005.

Courtney Eldridge is that unique writer who manages to combine real heart with remarkable intelligence with extremely skilled story telling. This collection has breadth and depth and would appeal to about every smart reader I know. This is the book I'm buying for everyone for Christmas and recommending to everyone who needs a really good read. If you're looking for a smart, engaging collection of short stories with a novella that is one of the best I've ever read, look no further.