Here We Are in Paradise: Stories

I wanted to read this book after reading Earley’s more recent collection, Mr. Tall. His writing has a rootsy feel, embedded in rural landscapes and rural people, put through the kinds of situations and reflections that are stripped down to essentials.

Earley’s writing is regional — this collection is mainly set in rural North Carolina. It has a kind of deep seclusion to it, both in time and space, that makes such places as Charlotte, Atlanta, or Richmond seem like other worlds to the characters here. That seclusion serves to focus the lives of his characters on the here and now.

The title story zeroes in on the lives of an aging couple, Vernon and Peggy. Life never becomes what each of them separately wants it to be, and, for that show more matter, they never successfully and fully share their versions of what they want life to be. But they fell in love shared a life together, and apart in their own thoughts. That they live in “paradise” is both ironic and true at the same time, the same way they both share a life and live inevitably separate lives.

Another story that stuck with me was “Lord Randall”, which borders on the kind of surrealism that was more common in Mr. Tall. The strangely named Lord Randall lives with his parents, whose lives center on a trout pond in the mountains. They strive, although only in a very quirky way, to make a tourist attraction of the pond, with a kind of unaccountable faith that things will work out. It’s as if it doesn’t really matter that the world won’t actually flock to their pond — it’s the perfect medium for their natural and free quirkiness.

There’s a lot here, more portraits than plots. So if you’re in the mood for entertaining reflection, it’s a good place to stop. show less

The most difficult part of writing short stories is creating fully-realized characters that a reading audience can immediately form a connection with. In this manner Earley has shown himself to be a master. This book is a series of short stories that mostly feature glimses of small town life. One of my favorites is Charlotte, a story that explores the romance and excitement of professional wrestling from the town's past. The most moving story is the title story about Vernon and his wife Peggy, who is dying of breast cancer. The exploration of Vernon's panic and fear at the thought of losing his wife and Peggy's stoic acceptance of the inevitable is absolutely heartrending. Four and a half stars.

I did end up loving this book. It was a little shaky there in the first story though...it was my least favorite of the lot. I'm not sure if it was the style of the story itself (sort of a stream-of-consciousness [but with punctuation, thank god] rambling with lots of flashbacks and flashforwards), or if it was just that I had to get back into the short story frame of mind. When you've been on a diet of strictly novels and non-fiction, short stories can really throw you for a loop.

Fortunately, I loved the second story which was ostensibly about Charlotte losing its pro wrestling alliance to Ted Turner and Atlanta, but was really so much more.

I was also thrilled to see that the last three stories were about Jim Glass, his mother and his show more uncles, who I fell in love with when I read Jim the Boy. I believe these stories were written before the novel, but I'm glad I read the novel first. In it, Earley only tells us about one year in Jim's childhood. These stories span the rest of his life. I liked the innocence of the first book so much that it was nice not to spoil it by reading these stories first.

I'm going to include a spoiler here by quoting the last line of the last story in the book, so if you don't want to read it, stop now. (It's such a lovely quote, I can't help myself.)

"We live in stories, and our stories go on, even when we are dead. If there is one thing I would like to say to my mother, it is that: do not worry, our stories go on."

Just wonderful. show less

A marvelous book of short stories, all set in North Carolina, by the author of the wonderful "Jim the Boy". A couple are a little disconcerting because of the style, a skip-and-jump piling on of past events until one knows the characters, and then the resolution. Many are quietly sad, dealing with the pain of lost and unsalvageable relationships, and a couple are flat-out eccentrically funny. The cream of this crop is the last three stories, all a kind of prequel to "Jim the Boy", with the last one, "My Father's Heart", bringing out tears in me at the end with its sad and quiet acceptance of mortality and how our stories go on despite it, because of family.

Thumbs up. Read the story "The Prophet from Jupiter" in Harper's in the early 1990's and was an instant fan. Still one of my all time favorite stories. The rest of these stories are good, too.