Alex Taylor: The Coal Thief (Deal Me In 2017 – Week 48)

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When he looked now, he saw them all again, the ginseng and goldenseal and mayapple shooting up through the black soil, the earth surrendering its hidden life, all of it waiting to bloom again once the cold was gone. There was no need to be afraid. The coal was not heavy and the blisters on his hands didn’t hurt.

Many of the short stories I read – or at least ones I’ve read recently – would not fall into the categories of action-packed or suspense thriller. But Alex Taylor’s “The Coal Thief” could easily fall in with these types of stories – which makes it a pleasant and exciting change of pace.

With all of the action, Taylor still manages to provide an interesting change in character for 12 year-old Luke as he starts out his day as nervous and less-than-confident in his attempt to steal coal from a moving train. By the end of the day (and the story), Luke becomes tough and thick-skinned in the face of the day’s action and tragedy. Pulling this off within the course of one day is a nice little feat on the part of Taylor.

Because the story is set during an Appalachian winter, “The Coal Thief” reminds me of a Jack London story – the cold plays an important role. And the moral ambiguity of the hero brings to mind Ernest Hemingway.

This story is included in my copy of Degrees of Elevation: Short Stories of Contemporary Appalachia edited by Charles Dodd White and Page Seay. I read it when I selected the King of Clubs for week 48 of my Deal Me In 2017 short story project. My Deal Me In list can be found here. Deal Me In is hosted by Jay at Bibliophilopolis.

 

 

Caroline Gordon: The Presence (Deal Me In 2017 – Week 47)

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He turned his face up to the night.  The heavens were dark, for all their gold stars. It would be a long time till morning. When it came they would shut their eyes against the light and lie quiet until the brain, rattling inside the cold skull, set them moving about the hateful business of  the day…

“The Presence” is another story by Caroline Gordon that includes her recurring character Dr. Maury, although in this story he is referred to as Mr. Maury by the author even though some characters call him “Doctor”.

At 75, he is older in this story than the others I’ve read even if he’s never been what one would call young. His wife has been dead for 15 years and he lives in a boarding house in Florida with a group of people of various ages.

After reading “The Presence”, the title continues to intrigue me. Mr. Maury reminisces about the death of his Catholic Aunt who raised him with some Catholic litany thrown into his thought. Perhaps this presence refers to God. Along the same lines, the concepts of age and death permeate the story to the point that it makes me think maybe the presence is meant to refer to death.

There’s also the character of Mr. Maury, himself. He’s always been a kind of grumpy person and age hasn’t changed that; however, he manages to be accepted by the other boarders. Maybe it’s his presence at the boarding house that gives the story its title.

And maybe its all three together.

I read this story when I selected the Six of Clubs for Week 47 of my Deal Me In 2017 short story project. It’s included in my copy of The Best American Catholic Short Stories edited by Daniel McVeigh and Patricia Schnapp. My Deal Me In list can be found here. Deal Me In is hosted by Jay at Bibliophilopolis.

 

 

 

Hortense Calisher: In Greenwich, There are Many Gravelled Walks (Deal Me In 2017 – Week 46)

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He had no complaints, then, he assured himself…It was just that while others of his age still shared a communal wonder at what life might hold, he had long since been solitary in his knowledge of what life was.

Peter Birge, in Hortense Calisher’s 1950 short story “In Greenwhich, There are Many Gravelled Walks”, is a young man just out of the army who has to take care of his alcoholic mother. Birge is the adult in the traditional sense while his mother acts the child. As described in the above quotation, the loneliness Peter feels resonates throughout the story.

Then there is Susan, the daughter of Robert, an older acquaintance of Peter’s who’s family fortune allows him to also act the child while Susan plays the adult.

Ultimately, Peter and Susan meet – to realize they aren’t completely alone. We don’t know exactly what happens with Peter’s and Susan’s relationship but the fact that they have a common bond is enough for me to consider this story to end happily.

“In Greenwich, There are Many Gravelled Walks” is included in my copy of Wonderful Town: New York Stories from the New Yorker edited by David Remnick. I read it when I selected the King of Hearts for Week 46 of my Deal Me In 2017 short story project. My Deal Me In list can be found here. Deal Me In is hosted by Jay at Bibliophilopolis.

Emma by Jane Austen

…and it really was too much to hope even of Harriet, that she could be in love with more than three men in one year.

I probably consider Emma my second favorite Jane Austen novel next to Pride and Prejudice but I have to read Northanger Abbey to make a definitive statement and that novel is on my list to read this month.

With Emma, I got that familiar “twinkle” in Austen’s eye as the novel unfolds – that twinkle that I didn’t see as much in Mansfield Park or Persuasion. Emma Woodhouse is not necessarily as likeable a character as some of Austen’s other heroines; however, Emma’s snobbery comes across like a character from Seinfeld. Yes, we know about her selfishness but she’s going to make us laugh, anyway.

Then there’s all the carrying on about minutiae: how to have the best ball and who writes the best letters – more reminders of Seinfeld. Whoever said Jane was ahead of her time wasn’t kidding.

For me, though, the funniest aspect of the novel was the long-running “gag” about Harriet Smith. Harriet goes from an Emma-protege to an Emma-annoyance all because of Emma’s own doing.

It made me laugh out loud.

I read Emma for the Jane Austen Read-All-Along hosted by James over at James Reads Books.

Irwin Shaw: Sailor Off the Bremen (Deal Me In 2017 – Week 45)

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“You must be very careful in a strange city,”…

I read Irwin Shaw’s 1939 short story “Sailor Off the Bremen” this week when I selected the Queen of Diamonds for Week 45 of my Deal Me In 2017 short story project. It’s included in my copy of Wonderful Town: New York Stories from The New Yorker edited by David Remnick. My Deal Me In list can be found here. Deal Me In is hosted by Jay at Bibliophilopolis.

In the story, a Communist from Germany sails to America. On the way over, he is severely beaten by a Nazi sailor. Once in America, the passenger’s wife and friends, also devout Communists, track down the sailor and beat him up in revenge.

I suppose the interesting aspect of the story is that the Communist passenger attempts to talk his friends out of pursuing revenge saying that it won’t solve anything – but he’s outnumbered.

So the story is about the right and the left – OK, I’ll say the extreme right and the extreme left – beating each other up.

Hmmm…