Customer Reviews

Zigzagging Down a Wild Trail: Stories

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"Zigzagging Down A Wild Trail", by Bobbie Ann Mason is a great collection of short stories. She has a very unique and clever way of seeing what is presented to all of us, but is only viewed by some, and recorded by even fewer. Her stories are not about fantastically unusual events. Her characters are generally people that many will know some version of, and yet when she finishes rendering their personalities they feel as though they are new.

There are 11 stories in the collection, and the titles range from, "Tobrah, Thunder Snow, and Charger". "Tobrah", resides at one end of this range of tales, with a daughter traveling to make arrangements for her father who deserted her, only to find that with his final leaving in death he has also left her a half-sister that is younger by decades. Other than her name the child is largely a mystery, and some clues that develop are less than comforting. This story like many that are in the book are left with unfinished issues, the outcome is for the reader to decide. Many of these tales are brought to a conclusion very abruptly, a style that I usually finally annoying. This was not the case with this writer's work, and it may be because the stories themselves are so rich that even left incomplete, the writer has given her audience all they need.

Well-known events like The Gulf War are also modified so that it is the husband who has stayed behind while his wife has gone off to war. Superficially the story appears to contain much of the cliché male thinking one would expect, but pay attention to the detail, and the story is unique and very well done. The character and title of one story, "Charger", is at times humorous, and at others sad as his and his girlfriend's future are all too predictable. The characters of Charger, who is desirous of readjusting his brain via the use of his girlfriend's aunt's Prozac, is someone you will not forget easily. And his girlfriend who wears skintight snakeskin pants, "Like a pair of Boa Constrictors", and defines happiness as having lipstick on, may be the most interesting characters in the book.

Whatever your interests there is a high probability that Bobbie Ann Mason will provide several stories for you to enjoy.

Shiloh and Other Stories, Mason's early 1980's collection---the one that really put her on the map---is what all her other work is judged against. I've read it three times and it always feels fresh. Zigzagging Down a Wild Trail, by sad contrast, feels phoned in. Mason visits a lot of familiar territory and characters, but she has mostly failed to give these places and people heart in this go around. With a few fine exceptions---among them Tobrah, Three Wheeler, The Funeral Side, and Rolling Into Atlanta--at least half of the book feels like what a good Mason imitator might turn in. This isn't to say that they're not enjoyable to read. However, I only took a few days to read the collection and by the end, I could hardly remember what the first story was about. Some other stories start well but never find the cohesion or impact of Mason's best work. I can't help but think that she must have had some contractual obligation to whip out something really fast. If you've never read her before, my recommendation would be to start with Shiloh and Other Stories and then go from there.

Mason writes about a dozen short stories in this collection. Many of them are about women and all are about people reviewing their lives, the decisions they've made, the people they've loved. The stories are involving -- the kind of story that pulls you in and when you finish the story, look up and are confused as to where you are. But, while I enjoyed many of the stories, there were a few that fell short of the brilliance of the others. Many of the stories rate 4 or 5 stars, the few I didn't enjoy brought the overall rating down for me.

i enjoyed these stories as they were based in an area not too far from where i grew up in Southeast Missouri. i could recognize the type of characters and it made for great, light reading. It made me want to read more work by the author.

I had the overwhelming sense that I had read these stories before, and that they were better the first time. Mason covers a lot of old ground here, and while a few of the stories offer new perspectives, many of them feel like retreads.

The best thing about Zigzagging over her other short story collections is it's more recent: Mason's reliance on up-to-the-minute references make her stories dated (though still excellent).

If you've never read Mason's other collections, give them a look first.

Mason's book went nowhere. Her characters were all losers, misfits, chaos-junkies. How anyone in their right mind could champion this book is beyond me. Our book club thought it was the worst we've read in a long time. My only advice to anyone considering "Zigzagging" is to slither along to another title. Anything else is preferable.
Dr. Bob Marlowe