The Geographical Cure, Novellas and Stories - Hardcover

Michael Parker

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0684196824 ISBN 13: 9780684196824

Publisher: Charles Scribner's Sons / Maxwell Macmillan, 1994

Synopsis

A half-dozen short stories set in the South investigate the themes of family, isolation, and redemption

About this title

Reviews

The prose in this polished collection, the second book by the author of the widely praised Hello Down There , fairly sparkles with vibrancy and charm. "As Told To"--set, like all the selections, in rural North Carolina-- concerns the memoirs of Wilson Carleton, the oldest sibling in a small-town family, and the long-hidden resentment harbored by his brother Matthew. "Golden Hour," a novella narrated by three radically different voices, deals with an incident at a vocational school involving a stalled bus, an aging "beach music" star and the Marx-Engels Reader . "Love Wild" is the story of two young men--one emotionally disturbed, the other lovesick--who work as Indians at a frontier theme park. Thanks to Parker's craftsmanship, his stories appear to ramble pleasantly when in fact they are models of compactness. And his abundant affection for his casts brings even the most minor players into sharp focus, as all of the characters are firmly rooted to their landscape. (In "As Told To," Matthew observes, "here the ghosts roll by on bicycles, press against you in the stacks of the public library, cough recognizably in the next voting booth.") Parker's voice is not simply mature; it's absolutely fully formed.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Geography is both cure and curse in Parker's second book (after Hello Down There, 1993), a collection of short fiction set in the modern South. His protagonists must often struggle with the burdens of the past as they are tempted by spontaneity, danger, and wanderlust. Their creator follows each tale to its proper length--some are novellas, others stories--attending also to the unique voices of his narrators, who range from an innocent boy taken along on a wild ride to a septuagenarian of some literary pretensions. The latter, in ``As Told To,'' is reading his older brother's memoir of world traveling for the State Department, which brings to the surface more than 50 years of envy and resentment. Parker eschews Faulknerian Sturm und Drang about the agonies of life below the Mason-Dixon line, but he is sensitive to his mostly middle-class characters' ambivalence about staying in the South, as when a North Carolinian ponders what might have happened if he had traveled the world instead of becoming a bail bondsman in ``Commit to Memory.'' He also explores the South's meaning through the eyes of outsiders. In the fine story ``The Little Marine,'' a boy copes with his mother's crazy plans after she leaves his father and joins her lover on a journey south. A long novella, ``Golden Hour,'' brilliantly portrays a clash of races, classes, and cultures through the story of strange conflict among a former ``beach music'' legend, a late '60s radical from California, a rigid do- good teacher from Ohio, and a well-meaning vo-tech administrator. Personal emotions independent of geography are treated as well: A troubled teenager finds a kindred spirit in ``Cursive''; fierce, unrequited passion for his ex-wife compels the narrator of ``Love Wild'' into an unhealthy relationship with her peculiar brother. Honest, graceful prose perfectly matches these stories' sense of place and past. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Two novellas form the heart of this stellar collection by the prodigiously talented Parker. In "As Told To," an older brother's request to critique his memoirs leads Matt Carleton to question the truth of his own memories while unlocking a 50-year legacy of resentment. A bus breakdown in "Golden Hour" becomes the catalyst for major changes in the lives of a repressed vocational college administrator, her regular-guy boss, and a radical musician. Told alternately by its three characters, this story offers a wild, seriocomic look at political and cultural differences in the South, circa late 1970s. The four short stories further showcase Parker's sumptuous language, rich evocation of place, and ability to capture an astonishing range of voices. Highly recommended.
Lawrence Rungren, Bedford Free P.L., Mass.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Charles Scribner's Sons / Maxwell Macmillan
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0684196824
• ISBN 13: 9780684196824
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 287