Light Lifting

Alexander MacLeod's first collection of stories is distinguished by a raw, muscular quality that lifts it above the ordinary. In these seven pieces the characters often face decisions that place body and soul at risk. Many are stretched to the limit of their endurance, testing their bodies against their will to succeed. Or they are staring squarely into a gaping hole where their life used to be, struggling through the aftermath of some misfortune. In defiance of profound physical revulsion, the young narrator of "The Loop" saves the life of a particularly loathsome individual. And in "Wonder about Parents," narrated with staccato immediacy, a young couple must cope with the challenge of a deathly ill infant. In these stories one show more emotionally charged event follows another and there is no respite for the reader. Only cccasionally does the writing become verbose, and as the narrative meanders the tautness is lost, as in "Adult Beginner I," where through grit and determination a young woman quells her fear of drowning to excel as a swimmer, only to risk everything in a single, reckless act. But overall the lapses are few. Light Lifting creates more tension and suspense than we have any right to expect of a debut collection of short fiction. Shortlisted for the 2010 Scotiabank Giller Prize. show less

I love this book. I haven't been able to finish anything lately (too much school reading), but this is the book that got me reading voraciously again and once again enamoured with the short story. My favourite was Wonder About Parents. I still can't get it out of my head. The stories are well-constructed and leave you just this side of unsettled. Go and read it.

Alexander MacLeod's debut collection of short fiction, drawn from 15 years of writing for literary magazines in Canada, tempts you to indulge in the kind of superlatives that might be counterproductive in the age of hype; just how brilliant can it really be? Well, pretty damn brilliant, actually. Among the seven longish stories that make up this collection, there is not a single misstep. This book is that good.

These stories lead in one direction, dart down a side alley, and then return to themselves, without any bad welds or weak seams to give away their construction. "Number Three" erects the Chrysler minivan as a mythic object, while exploring the consequences of a devastating accident; "Adult Beginner I" finds teenaged lifeguards show more diving into the Detroit River from the roof of the Holiday Inn, as a swimmer goes out of her depth; and "Wonder About Parents" encapsulates, in staccato prose, the strange intimacies of parenthood. "Good Boys," an apparently simple story about four brothers and the kid across the street, manages to be both funny and moving while avoiding any form of predictability.

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Very powerful. There are similarities to his father's writing, in the strong characters & details, but where Allister's are very traditional in setting and storyline, these are very modern. For my personal taste, both would be better with a little leavening of humour once in awhile, but they are excellent writers.

Very powerful. There are similarities to his father's writing, in the strong characters & details, but where Allister's are very traditional in setting and storyline, these are very modern. For my personal taste, both would be better with a little leavening of humour once in awhile, but they are excellent writers.

I adored these stories. A completely satisfying collection. I really like how he presents bodies in space, and how he ends many of this stories where most stories would start.

Reads very quickly. I enjoyed these stories, but I wasn't as blown away as I expected to be. "Wonder About Parents" -- which was, I think, first published in the Fiddlehead? -- stood out.