Werewolves in Their Youth

A paired look at Rohinton Mistry Tales from Firozsha Baag and Michael Chabon Werewolves in Their Youth.

I chanced upon these back to back, both short story collections, both by writers in their working youth – Mistry’s first book and an early one for Chabon. Both as much as anything nostalgic, bittersweet recollections of childhood, the middle class childhoods of their own existences.

Chabon: laugh out loud funny – you know…so that it gets almost irritating for those who are suffering through your pleasure. They start sounding snarky when they say they must read it too. The guy’s brilliant, this collection is splendid.

Mistry: the blurb says ‘extremely funny’. But the only good thing about the shit of his world – and I mean show more that literally, the shit on the street, the upstairs lavatory that leaks onto your head as you sit on the toilet, the filth, the water supply turned off at 6am because the city is without again, the monsoonal water running down the inside of your house – the good thing about it is that this is all happening to middle class educated people, the same ones who, had they lived in Chabon’s childhood, would have been clean and without want. This life he writes of is the relatively privileged existence one can have in India, that’s what I mean by ‘good’. I mean, there is a worse life. I couldn’t imagine anything less hilarious. I could not imagine anything, if it comes to that, less ‘compassionate’ – another promise of the blurb. I don’t know that Mistry is ever the victim of that sentiment, but certainly not in this book.

rest here: https://alittleteaalittlechat.wordpress.com/2016/10/18/chabon-and-mistry-short-s... show less

Michael Chabon escribió estos cuentos en sus primeros años como escritor. "Chico prodigioso" a temprana edad, la revista New Yorker publicaba sus relatos a mediados de los ochenta, cuando Chabon era un veinteañero. La mayoría de los cuentos que componen este volumen son maravillosos. Con una aparente simplicidad, Chabon escribe sobre matrimonios que se desintegran, y cómo es de difícil el paso de la juventud a la madurez. Mezclando sabiamente el humor, la ironía y el drama, Chabon nos ofrece nueve cuentos que bien podrían haberse convertido en novelas, pero que son perfectos y se valen por sí mismos. Aquí van los nueve cuentos con mi valoración:

- JÓVENES HOMBRES LOBO (*****), en el que dos chicos, amigos que comparten el ser show more unos parias en su colegio, ven como su mundo se desintegra, el de Timothy por creerse un "hombre lobo" y el de Paul por la separación de sus padres. Una obra maestra.

- CACERÍA DE CASAS (*****), en el que Daniel y Christy, un joven matrimonio, acude con el señor Hogue a visitar una casa para su posible compra, y los problemas de la pareja salen a relucir, al igual que las sorpresas y equívocos. Simplemente genial.

- HIJO DEL HOMBRE LOBO (*****), en el que Cara ha sido violada por el Violador del Embalse y queda embarazada, con el consecuente trauma tanto para ella como para Richard, su marido. Ternura y compasión en un cuento redondo.

- EL LIBRO DE GREEN (**), en el que Green y su hija Jocelyn, acuden a la fiesta de graduación del hijo de una antigua amiga, para la que trabajó en su juventud como canguro de su otra hija, Ruby, a la que esperaba no volver a ver. El cuento que menos me ha gustado.

- LA SEÑORA BOX (****), en el que Eddie, que tiene graves problemas económicos, decide hacer una visita sorpresa a la abuela de su ex mujer y nada sale como esperaba. Un buen cuento.

- ZAPATILLAS DE CLAVOS (*****), en el que Kohn, con su propia tragedia familiar, decide echar una mano a un chaval que vive en la misma isla, inadaptado socialmente. Una miniatura perfecta, otra obra maestra.

- LA HISTORIA DE HARRIS FETKO (****), en el que Harris, jugador de fútbol americano, es invitado por su padre, entrenador, a la circuncisión de su hermanastro. También hay sitio para el humor.

- ESA ERA YO (***), en el que una pareja visita una taberna buscando el pasarlo bien e intentar encontrar una salida a su situación. Buen cuento.

- EN LA NEGRA FUNDICIÓN (*****), en el que Chabon nos hace un guiño contándonos una historia de misterio y terror, al más puro estilo Poe, escrita por August van Zorn, el autor fetiche de Grady Tripp, el protagonista de 'Chicos prodigiosos'. Otra maravilla.

Como colofón, decir simplemente que hubiese querido que los cuentos siguiesen y siguiesen infinitamente. Da gusto leer cuentos, y libros, si son así. show less

This is a really good (IMO) early collection of stories by Chabon. Stories about the human condition with a little twist. The title story in on boys playing at werewolves, Son of the Wolfman is on a husband's reaction when his childless wife decides to keep the baby from a rape, and Mrs. Box is on a man who tries to rob his ex-wife's grandmother. The last story, interestingly is a gothic/lovecraftian horror story told by a fictitious author who is introduced to us by the main character of Chabon's 2nd novel The Wonder Boys
(Son of the Wolfman) The front porch had been overwhelmed years before by a salmon pink bougainvillea, and a disheveled palm tree murmured in the backyard, battering the roof at night with inedible nuts. It had been show more fall, the only season in Southern California that made any lasting claim on the emotions

(Spikes) She yearned to have a child. Kohn was an Easterner, socially awkward, obsessive. He was an instrument maker who built custom electric guitars, mostly for the Japanese market, and he preferred to keep his own yearnings pressed between the clear panes of a marijuana habit where he could safely observe them. show less

Stories with characters who never quite got a grip on life and encountered such turbulence that they lost what little they had, though through some alchemy of mischance a few get knocked back into a better positions. The stew of inept anger and inarticulate guilt, sexual, social, professional is all very recognizable.

A paired look at Rohinton Mistry Tales from Firozsha Baag and Michael Chabon Werewolves in Their Youth.

I chanced upon these back to back, both short story collections, both by writers in their working youth – Mistry’s first book and an early one for Chabon. Both as much as anything nostalgic, bittersweet recollections of childhood, the middle class childhoods of their own existences.

Chabon: laugh out loud funny – you know…so that it gets almost irritating for those who are suffering through your pleasure. They start sounding snarky when they say they must read it too. The guy’s brilliant, this collection is splendid.

Mistry: the blurb says ‘extremely funny’. But the only good thing about the shit of his world – and I mean show more that literally, the shit on the street, the upstairs lavatory that leaks onto your head as you sit on the toilet, the filth, the water supply turned off at 6am because the city is without again, the monsoonal water running down the inside of your house – the good thing about it is that this is all happening to middle class educated people, the same ones who, had they lived in Chabon’s childhood, would have been clean and without want. This life he writes of is the relatively privileged existence one can have in India, that’s what I mean by ‘good’. I mean, there is a worse life. I couldn’t imagine anything less hilarious. I could not imagine anything, if it comes to that, less ‘compassionate’ – another promise of the blurb. I don’t know that Mistry is ever the victim of that sentiment, but certainly not in this book.

rest here: https://alittleteaalittlechat.wordpress.com/2016/10/18/chabon-and-mistry-short-s... show less

A paired look at Rohinton Mistry Tales from Firozsha Baag and Michael Chabon Werewolves in Their Youth.

I chanced upon these back to back, both short story collections, both by writers in their working youth – Mistry’s first book and an early one for Chabon. Both as much as anything nostalgic, bittersweet recollections of childhood, the middle class childhoods of their own existences.

Chabon: laugh out loud funny – you know…so that it gets almost irritating for those who are suffering through your pleasure. They start sounding snarky when they say they must read it too. The guy’s brilliant, this collection is splendid.

Mistry: the blurb says ‘extremely funny’. But the only good thing about the shit of his world – and I mean show more that literally, the shit on the street, the upstairs lavatory that leaks onto your head as you sit on the toilet, the filth, the water supply turned off at 6am because the city is without again, the monsoonal water running down the inside of your house – the good thing about it is that this is all happening to middle class educated people, the same ones who, had they lived in Chabon’s childhood, would have been clean and without want. This life he writes of is the relatively privileged existence one can have in India, that’s what I mean by ‘good’. I mean, there is a worse life. I couldn’t imagine anything less hilarious. I could not imagine anything, if it comes to that, less ‘compassionate’ – another promise of the blurb. I don’t know that Mistry is ever the victim of that sentiment, but certainly not in this book.

rest here: https://alittleteaalittlechat.wordpress.com/2016/10/18/chabon-and-mistry-short-s... show less

In nearly every way, this is an incredibly uneven collection. Like another reviewer, I feel that the first three stories are clearly the strongest in the collection. In fact, after reading the first two, I couldn't believe that I'd allowed myself to wait so long before trying Chabon. I'm afraid, though, that it was downhill from there. In the very end, there was a horror story tacked on, which was interesting...and better than the few before it...but still not great or as good as the first few. For me to look at a collection of around ten stories and only be able to say that three or four were truly worth reading...well, that's not a good sign.

In the first three stories, the plots and sentiments are fast and engaging enough to keep up show more a certain momentum, but even in those three stories, I never really connected to or cared about any of the characters. For me, this was the problem with the whole collection--I never knew enough about any character, or believed in them enough, to really care. It was as if each story were created from Chabon wondering: "What if a __________________ did ________ or had ______ happen to them?" ie. what if a little boy was considered a friend of the school outcast, but wasn't? What if a woman decided to keep her rapist's child? What if... Now, I'm not saying that that's not a good way/place to start a story. I am saying that a good story requires the writer's imagination to go further than creating an interesting character in an awkward situation, and following that single situation through to a stopping point.

Simply, I'm afraid I grew bored with most of the stories, and with the book as a whole. It felt interesting, but so emotionless as to be unmemorable and easily left to the side. I suppose I'll pick up more of Chabon's work since it's already on my shelf, but this obviously wasn't a good start. Yeah, the stories are well-written...but that's not enough to make great stories or good reading. show less