Buying Cigarettes for the Dog: Stories by Stuart Ross
My rating: 4/5 cats
stuart ross takes full advantage of technology:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lV5CrH…
and gets recognized for it:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12…
stuart ross is a nice man with crazy hair who lives at the anvil press booth at the small press fair and always makes me buy more books than i had intended. he also wrote this book.
this is a really fun collection of absurdist stories that only occasionally stray into the “too absurd for me” camp. occasionally i am baffled by the appeal of the absurd, but that is just me and my personal taste, and most of these stories were wicked fun.
standouts in the collection include: Remember Teeth which is my very favorite and gives me chills the way that urban legend does; you know the one. The Suntan feels very latin american-y magical and is probably my second-fave. The Ape Play is repetitive nonsense that is irresistible and retarded in the best possible way. like lancelot link written by a drunk child. Letter to Heidi Fleiss reminded me big-time of something neal pollack would write, and i like neal pollack. the more abstract pieces reminded me of borges, who i do not like, but if you are going to not be liked by me, you might as well do it by reminding me of borges, because then most people will like you, is my advice. i have no idea what Elliott Goes to School is about, the ending puzzles me. Language Lessons with Simon and Marie made me laugh out loud several times, and i love it like crazies. i think i want to reread that one right now. The Engagement is a pretty perfect way to end the collection; i mean, there are a lot of excellent stories here, and i tend to avoid short stories when i can, so it is saying something from me, this.
incidentally, it is awkward reviewing books by authors with whom you have shared beers and booktalks, and i am grateful that this book doesn’t suck. i read this collection in my head in his voice, picturing him in his canadian house, staring off into the distance at the canadian landscape while he chews the end of his canadian pen and searches for the most appropriate canadian word to finish his canadian sentence.
and i liked it.
incidentally,
“i cannot be dislodged” is my new mantra.
i did not have an old mantra, but this is my new one, regardless.
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