Deborah Willis (2)

A young girl deals with the mysterious disappearance of her quiet and secretive father, learning along the way that he was not what he seemed. A woman speculates on her husband's affair, going so far as to try to confront the wrong woman. A trio of friends living together go through a strange metamorphosis of relationship when one suddenly leaves. An adult daughter returns home to a father who can't recognize her. These are just a few of the fourteen stories that make up the eclectic and show more thoughtful collection Vanishing by Deborah Willis. Sparse yet satisfying, these stories render their subjects lives in miniature and peddle between the past and the present to deftly intertwine the sudden joys of life and the unexpected sadness that can so change the way life is lived.

I haven't read many short story collections in the past few years, though that has not stopped me from collecting them! I sometimes find it hard to really get into a book of short stories because there just isn't room in them for the kind of character growth and reflection that I so appreciate in the novels I read. I like to see characters change and I like to see the situations they are living amongst and decipher how these situations affect their behavior. This is something that you don't usually get to experience in short stories. To me, short stories are more like a snapshot of a static moment in a character's life: not moving forward or looking backward, only a picture of this very moment. This is not the case here, and as I became more and more enmeshed in the collection, I grew to appreciate it more and more.

First off, Willis does something that I haven't seen before in short stories: she vacillates between the past and the present. In most of her stories, the story shifts between the action taking place today and what has happened in the past that makes the story so resonant. I really liked this technique and felt it gave the stories a lot of fullness and relevance. I liked that these stories were imbued with two types of texture, both the framework of the past and the more fluid present sections. I felt that writing them this way also had the effect of making the stories seem more robust, as though they encompassed more material and time. I think the best example of this technique came in the story Remember, Relive, a story that explores both the unique relationships among a family and what they have morphed into over time.

Another thing that makes this collection unique is that Willis is able to tell full-bodied stories in her short fiction. Nothing is static here. There is dramatic action and character growth, as well as climaxes and denouements. I think she is able to achieve this due to her ability to tell a story rather sparsely, yet fit in all the hallmarks of a good tale. Her language is not flashy and she doesn't spend a lot of time on pointless description and internal thought processes. Instead, she sets her stage and puts her characters through their paces, letting them encounter life and each other with wonderful results. These stories all have a beginning, middle and end, and because of that they feel more weighty than their page space should allow.

I should also mention that these stories are narrated by characters with varying sexes, ages and circumstances, and each voice is genuine and believable. Whether she is writing as an aging cowboy, a confused teenage girl or a woman being betrayed, Willis' voice never falters. I think it's a pretty amazing thing to make so many characters sound so convincing, especially considering the fact that their time onstage is so brief. I actually think the male characters were my favorite to read about because Willis managed to make her males seem sensitive yet tough and they seemed like the type of people that I could or should know. I also think she did very well with her teenage characters. They were at once rebellious yet vulnerable and insecure. Another thing that I admired was the fact that she consistently matched each character to their ideal setting and plot. Seeing these characters in the right places really made these stories shine.

This is a collection that deals with the more quiet and somber emotions, and there is a great gravity to all of these stories that I really enjoyed. Though I haven't kept up with short stories for the last few years, I greatly enjoyed this book and think that Willis is a very interesting talent. I think this collection would be great for those who are voracious readers of short story collections and those that are new to the genre. It would also be perfect for those that are a bit rusty. If I had to describe these stories in just a couple of words, I would say they were unexpectedly satisfying and they are short enough that a reader can dip in and out of the book with ease. A very unique collection, recommended. show less

This is a solid collection of contemporary short fiction from Deborah Willis. Many of the stories take place in the dark, either literally or figuratively: In the titular "The Dark," which I adored, two girls at a summer camp sneak out at night, but not for the usual reasons. Instead of fooling around with boys, they take to the forest, where they watch the "riding" horses in secret. Under the soft light of the moon, these old and overworked mares are transformed into creatures magical and show more otherworldly.

Equally lovely is "Last One to Leave," in which two young people whose lived were changed by World War II (a very dark time in our collective history, indeed) meet in the Canadian wilderness. Sydney brings and end to Havyril's muteness and, when he dies many years later, her own voice goes with him. All the while, the couple bears witness as their remote logging town crumbles and falls around them. show less

Deborah Willis's collection is populated by characters who are defined by the absence of an important person in their lives. The title story is that of a daughter whose playwright father disappears one day and leaves her in the shadow of his growing enigmatic fame. Characters are missing parents, friends, or significant others in each story. They're learning to cope, or they're enjoying their freedom, or they're attempting to fill the space left empty in their lives.

The characters Willis show more portrays are vivid and relateable in their joy, pain, hopes, dreams, fears, and their penetrating need for things that they can't quite put a name to. Willis draws stark clear-eyed pictures of cheating wives, mourning husbands, lost friends, struggling fathers, and confused couples that elicit an unexpected sympathy for those simply struggling to endure the burdens of the human condition. Reading Willis's story collection is like riding the best kind of emotional roller coaster that effortlessly captures the full range of human emotion. Willis also has a clever and fsubtly ironic way with words that makes certain passages jump off the page with their relevance within the context of the stories and perhaps even in our own lives.

Penny looks out at the faces of her students, faces she would describe as looking sleepy or sweetly bored. "By the end of the semester," she says, "you'll have a good grasp of vocabulary and be able to speak in the present and past tenses."

One of the Margarets raises her hand. "What about the future?"

"The future?" Penny is so grateful to this girl for listening that she could kiss her. "We'll try to get to that too. But the future is complicated."

Willis has penned a captivating collection of short stories, many of which, if I didn't enjoy, I at least appreciated. My favorite, though, would have to be "Escape," a story about a meticulous researcher who finds comfort in statistics, reason, and routine who loses his wife to cancer. Searching for something after her death, Tom finds himself taking refuge in gambling at a casino where a has-been magician turned blackjack dealer captivates him with her games and tricks that allow him to escape from the empty routine of his life. The harsh reality of loss juxtaposed with hope and a sense of possibilty make "Escape" an especially poignant read.

But it wasn't until Kelly was admitted to the hospital that he prayed. It took him a while to get the hang of it. He tried to pray to the God of Light that Kelly favoured, but as her condition worsened, that god satisfied him less and less. The god Tom knew was a darker thing. A murky, underwater god. A god who said, Sometimes there is light. A god capable of beauty and cruelty and - Tom prayed for it, every night, on his knees - magic. show less

Deborah Willis has crafted one lovely group of stories in The Dark and Other Love Stories.

This collection is full of humor and intriguing content. No, seriously. I was thoroughly impressed by not only Deborah's incredible writing style but the imagination behind these stories. Some of them were just wild! The weirdest yet most interesting was a girl falling in love with a man who wants her to be a bird. Like... what? How does one come up with THAT idea? Impressive.

My favourite was the story show more about a woman going behind her boyfriend's back and trying to go to Mars. It was funny and yet really moving. My heart ached for the poor man as we watched the scenario unfold. But my gosh, so good! It's hard to get emotions like that for a book!

I would highly recommend this book. Not only is it not your typical anthology full of love stories and dark and twisted humor, but it's also just really well written. Deborah has a real talent and it'd be a waste for this book not to find a bigger audience (also, she's Canadian. Represent!).

I do think this book may fit into a niche category for some readers, since it's not purely about love and romance. This book is not a romance book, it is a contemporary novel written with love themes. That being said, if you go into it understanding that this isn't a romance novel and it's purely based on theming and creative stories, you'll love it. I sure did! I thought it was a fun ride and I'd love to pick up more by Deborah in the future.

Overall, I'm thoroughly impressed by this book. I will continue to recommend it until my dying days, because it's a real, secret, Canadian gem!

Four out of five stars!

I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads. show less