Lee K. Abbott (1947–2019)

A very good collection. Mr. Abbott excels at the short form, but as he himself says the long form is not his forte. So it is with the ending novella and title story. It goes on a little too long and is not sure what it wants to be, character study or crime story. He approached the dilemma of two college buddies diverging in life's woods better in the story "Revolutionaries" in Dreams of Distant Lives. That said, I would still recommend this collection, as well as any Abbott collection, without hesitation. The man writes one helluva story.… (mehr)

Why I chose it: I’m trying to make an effort to read books by the professors I had in my creative writing classes and Prof. Abbott was my favorite. I remember so much about that class and the lessons he taught us, but mostly I remember thinking he looked and sounded a lot like the actor who played Julian on Passions (that’s right - I love soap operas). My favorite story he told was about a boy who didn’t speak the first 5 years of his life. His mom thought something was wrong, but the doctors told her he was a perfectly healthy boy and he could talk if he wanted to. One morning at breakfast, the mom gave her son burnt toast and the son finally spoke up and said “Mom, this toast is burnt.” The mom, shocked, asked why he hadn’t said anything before until now and the kid said, “because up until now, everything’s been fine.” And that’s how you know when to start a story. If everything’s fine and the characters are living their normal everyday lives, you start on the day when things are not longer ordinary.

In one of the interviews I read from Abbott after finishing this book, he says the popular line “write what you know” and he knows men in small towns in New Mexico. I felt like I knew each of these flawed men and understood their issues and why they do/react the way they do. Each story has a strong narrative voice, with beautiful, dense sentences that I wish I could write.

The downside of that, depending on the reader, is that the language Abbott uses does require focus – his pages are filled with metaphors, similies, and loaded sentences that say more in one line than most authors say in a page. If you’re looking for a quick read that doesn’t take much concentration, then these stories aren’t for you. On the other hand, if you’re a reader, like me, who likes that challenge and wants short stories that make you think without ever clearly stating what this piece is about, this author is for you.

This wasn't a large moment, I tell you, no bells or "aha" or surprise - just a moment when I heard from, as we now and then do, that vigilant creature inside of us whose job it is, when we can't, to look behind and above and afar (How Love is Lived in Paradise)

Abbot is also a pro at writing the first sentence to a story that sucks you in:
"They grab her - Tanya, my fourteen year-old daughter - early in the afternoon from the sidewalk outside the north entrance to J.C. Penney's at the Mimbres Valley Mall." (Gravity)

"She was Betty Porter, a being as much of magic as of muscle, and I who I ever am - Heath "Pokey" Howell (Junior), banker, Luna County commissioner and, as events will prove, the dimmest of sinners, male type." (Ninety Nights on Mercury)

"Only sixteen months after our daughter's death from, improbable as it may seem in the nowadays and hereabouts, mononucleosis, I began breaking into my own house, as expert a sneak thief as if I had taken to the trade as a toddler." (The Who, the What, and the Why)

A few stories I struggled with:

Men of Real Persuasion – I usually like Abbot’s dense sentences and wordy narrators, but this got me a little lost in the beginning and I had to read a few times to understand the words on the page. And by then I just didn’t care.

Dreams of Distant Lives – I couldn’t really get into the narrator or the situation about his dreams and his divorce. I like a little more action and dialogue.

My Favorites:

One of Star Wars, One of Doom – Two boys plan to blow up the school Columbine style and a cheating husband/math teacher tries saving his mistress. This story stays with you and the
Gravity – a Sheriff finds out his only daughter has been kidnapped, only she hasn’t. She ran away. It’s told from the father sometime in the future, so he tells you what happened now looking back with hindsight – what he originally thought and felt versus what really happened. There are some moments in this story when you just ache for this father as he comes to realize he doesn't know his little girl at all.

The Who, the What, and the Why - As you can tell from the first sentence of the story, it's about a father going a little crazy after his daughter's unexpected death and he starts breaking into his own home (while his wife is alseep). There's more to it than that and the voice is beautiful and heartbreaking.

If you enjoy short stories with chatty narrators, a mixture of male characters you either love or hate, damaged father-son relationships, and characters unsure of where they are in their lives, then I highly recommend Abbot's book. I will definitely be checking out his previous collections. 4 out of 5… (mehr)