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The Cage Keeper and Other Stories

3.73 of 5 stars 3.73 · rating details · 101 ratings · 10 reviews

Passion and betrayal, violent desperation, ambivalent love that hinges on hatred, and the quest for acceptance by those who stand on the edge of society-these are the hard-hitting themes of a stunningly crafted first collection of stories by the bestselling author of House of Sand and Fog.

A vigilant young man working in a halfway house finds himself unable to defend agains...more

Paperback, 224 pages

Published October 9th 2001 by Vintage (first published 1989)

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May 16, 2012 Patrick Faller rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

There is a moment in the title story of this collection that suggests the nature of Dubus III's interests as a writer and gives a glimpse into his fiction-writing strengths. The story's narrator, a young man named Allen who works as a corrections officer, is bagging up and tagging the personal belongings of one of the inmates who has run off without warning (the corrections institution resembles a half-way house for convicted felons, hardly a jail where the inmates are under lock and key and sub...more There is a moment in the title story of this collection that suggests the nature of Dubus III's interests as a writer and gives a glimpse into his fiction-writing strengths. The story's narrator, a young man named Allen who works as a corrections officer, is bagging up and tagging the personal belongings of one of the inmates who has run off without warning (the corrections institution resembles a half-way house for convicted felons, hardly a jail where the inmates are under lock and key and subject to the scrutiny of the guards). The runaway, an older man referred to through the story as Elroy, was somewhat of a rabble-rouser, and has written scathing letters criticizes both the administration and its guards, and Allen, somewhat skeptical and yet admiring of Elroy's attitude, sifts through texts as varied as George Orwell's 1984 and interracial pornographic magazines with varying degrees of insult and envy. This view of Elroy extends to Elroy's bed, which Allen notes is "impeccably made," as well as the bookcase beside it, which Allen had witnessed Elroy building, "his face [unchanged] from the constant tight-jawed looked it always has." After cinching the bags and preparing to leave the room he has just wiped clean of all traces of its former occupant, Allen notices "something [he] has never noticed before": a framed photograph of Elroy, a woman, and a young boy about fifteen or sixteen years of age. Each is dressed up, and Elroy is a much younger, much happier man "squinting into the sunshine with an actual, honest-to-God smiel on his face." The photograph warrants as much of a description as the Orwell book or the porno magazine, but it shocks Allen into a new awareness that blooms as the story progresses. As he leaves the room, bound eventually for his car and an encounter with the real Elroy, who will kidnap Allen and force him to drive to Canada where Elroy will make a new start, Allen has the temerity to sum up his reaction to the photo: "I didn't think that trolls got married."

As I said before, this small moment represents the strengths of the collection as a whole. Not every one of the nine stories is perfect, but in each piece, there are moments in which Dubus slows down and zooms in on a particular gesture, a telling detail, a memory of a line of dialogue, attempting to probe the implications, to pry into the inner lives of characters whose emotions are larger written off as irrelevant, whose motives seem malicious and single-minded and easily condemnable. These are stories written in the tradition of Dubus III's father, who used fiction as the means to gain insight, to suggest, to intuit, to question the forces keeping people together, pushing them apart, the forces governing the kinds of thinking people do. These aren't always redemptive insights. As in Allen's case, thinking too narrowly about a dangerous man lands him in hot water. And in one story in Dubus III's collection, in which a young woman abused by her father and the two boys she turns to for help, the girl, Lorillee, gains insight into her relationships with these, and all, men: "Sometimes she will feel like spitting as she tastes their juices again and she will have to stand up and pace in her panties over the linoleum floor of her room, all of them becoming one insider her so that she in not seh at all but them, until it feels as if she has never been her but just a part of them that they have kept in their lives for whenever they needed to let things out, a dark and evil part."

A story containing such a passage, which at first reads as misogynistic, cannot, and does not, end well for the girl. But ending well isn't so much the point as the fact that the realization has occured. Lorilee arrives at a truth that could perhaps enable to find the good in her situation, and to eventually emerge from that situation, if not stronger, than freer, wiser, and capable of making choices that are her own. It's a humane sort of story that results from such intense focus on the small gestures and what larger truths such gestures reveal. They are not always satisfying in their resolutions, but they suggest in their uneasy endings a kind of hope--that Lorilee will be able to make the right choice, leaving the men who've abused her in search of something better, brighter; that Allen will decide to think more deeply about his own grief and avoid falling into the same path of violence that doomed Elroy.

You'll have to read the collection to know the shape of Allen's grief, to know Elroy's crime and his motivations. I hope I've encouraged you to do so. (less)

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Feb 20, 2011 Alex English rated it 3 of 5 stars

The Cage Keeper and other Stories by Andre Dubus is a colllective reading of lives that fall between the cracks. A beautiful arrangement of strange, tragic, and liberating things, Andre Dubus uses his direct, and sometimes humorous language, to tell stories no one thinks to tell. Starting with The Cage Keeper”, a worker in a halfway house is kidnapped by an inmate and friend, and forced to drive him to freedom. The second, “Duckling girl” is the touching and heart-wrenching story of a girl who e...more The Cage Keeper and other Stories by Andre Dubus is a colllective reading of lives that fall between the cracks. A beautiful arrangement of strange, tragic, and liberating things, Andre Dubus uses his direct, and sometimes humorous language, to tell stories no one thinks to tell. Starting with The Cage Keeper”, a worker in a halfway house is kidnapped by an inmate and friend, and forced to drive him to freedom. The second, “Duckling girl” is the touching and heart-wrenching story of a girl who escapes the abuse of her father only to find more abuse in a pair of young men. “Wolves in the Marsh” is a story of a young boy, hunting alone and his self discovery. “Forky” is a haunting story of a man struggling with life after being released from prison. “Mountains” is a story of a waitress who betrays her lover, who is a war vet dealing with PTSD. In “White Trees, Hammer Moon” a man is wildly unprepared for a family camping trip, as his mind is occupied with his looming prison sentence. And finally ending with a young man's acceptance of an ending love affair in, “The Last Dance”.
Andre Dubus uses clear, concise and to-the-point descriptions and language to tell his stories. In his story, “The Cage Keeper” his quick descriptions of the people around him and his tenderly mysterious characters paint a colorful portrait for his readers to walk around in. In “The Duckling Girl”, my heart broke for his character Lorilee. His messy descriptions made me queasy and anxious as he touches at something so sensitive for any female to read. Andre Dubus definitely has taken a liking to touching on sensitive topics, things that cause the most amount of tension for the reader and his characters; something to make you lose sleep. This is the story that affected me the most, maybe because in all his subtle language his words hit so hard. Maybe that is one of his faults, at least in my opinion; I found that this is not one of those books that I “can't put down”. In fact, in reading it I often found myself having to get up and walk away from it, finding the material too much to handle all in one sitting, but it did not fail to intrigue me.
“Forky” tore me apart with the Dubus' emotional characters. His word choice and sentence structure like, “I turned and stuck it in his face and watched him turn to butter” contributes to a haunting narration of a man released from prison. He is so casual in his descriptions that it catches me off guard as a reader. “White Trees, Hammer Moon” was another favorite of mine because it was also so rich with emotion. The main character is being sent away to prison for a year and is camping with his family before hand. This story, again, is filled with such subtle emotion from the genuine characters Dubus creates.
“The Last Dance” Was a little difficult for me to get into because I found all the dialogue to be overwhelming and difficult to read and understand. The characters weren't as relateable as I would have liked them to be. In “Mountains” I found myself hating the main character, Sally, mostly because I sympathized with Rick. I did not like what was happening and the story, beside that was really hard to get into.
All in all Andre Dubus does a remarkable job at creating genuine characters, telling lively, tragic and heart-wrenching stories, and leaving a lasting impression. (less)

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Dec 22, 2009 Christina rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2009-reads

A collection of short stories by the author of House of Sand and Fog, The Cage Keeper and Other Stories delve into the actions, thoughts, and motives of criminals, ex-cons, and those who work in the criminal justice system, and into the lives of those who fall between in the cracks of society. In the title story, a halfway house worker is kidnapped by one of the inmates, Elroy, and forced to drive Elroy to Canada, to freedom. Along the way, Allen discovers why Elroy killed and as a result strugg...more A collection of short stories by the author of House of Sand and Fog, The Cage Keeper and Other Stories delve into the actions, thoughts, and motives of criminals, ex-cons, and those who work in the criminal justice system, and into the lives of those who fall between in the cracks of society. In the title story, a halfway house worker is kidnapped by one of the inmates, Elroy, and forced to drive Elroy to Canada, to freedom. Along the way, Allen discovers why Elroy killed and as a result struggles to come to terms with his role in keeping Elroy locked up.

In "Duckling Girl," a teenager seeks relief from her sexually abusive father with two similarly abusive teenage boys. "Wolves in the Marsh" is about a young boy’s coming of age as he goes hunting alone. In "Forky," for which Dubus won a National Magazine Award for Fiction, an ex-con is haunted by abuse he suffers immediately upon being released from prison. "Mountains" is told from the viewpoint of Sally, a waitress, who loves a Vietnam vet with post traumatic stress syndrome. In "White Trees, Hammer Moon," a man finds himself unprepared for a family camping trip in New Hampshire while knowing he'll be headed to prison soon, and in the final short story, "Last Dance," tells the story of a young man excepting the end of an affair.

Of the seven stories, there were only two I could really slip into -- "The Cage Keeper" and "Mountains" -- with the other five either not capturing my attention or failing to have characters I could understand. With those short stories I did enjoy, Dubus was great at delving into the thoughts and reasoning behind who his characters are and where they are coming from. And how can I not love that cover? It's so fitting as it echos the dark and foreboding nature of the tales and the movement of the characters. Anyways, as this is my first time reading a collection of short stories rather than an individual story, I hope this will not continue to be the case with every collection I read.(less)

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Mar 14, 2012 Booker rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: shortstorycollections

Dubus III often explores characters from the underbelly of society. This collection has that, but also some of these same characters in a haunting, yet beautiful, natural world. Some of the pieces reminded me of a darker Pam Houston or Ron Carlson. Dubus is one of those authors that is gifted in both the novel and the shorter form, which is rare in my opinion. These stories are not for the feint of heart, but if you appreciate these, you'll appreciate Dubus' other works as well.

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Jan 25, 2010 Kenneth Weene rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Adults looking for well written short fiction

Recommended to Kenneth by: My wife

Powerfully written but ultimately depressing and filled with alcohol, leaving the reader somewhat numbed.

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Mar 04, 2012 David rated it 4 of 5 stars

Dubus demonstrates an interesting talent for presenting highly emotional scenes that are at the same time cold and stark as many of his characters. The prose in these stories is gritty and visceral, appearing quite real. Though not always pleasant, these stories are good throughout.

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Jul 06, 2009 Sara C. rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: short-stories

Like father like son.

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Oct 18, 2008 Jill marked it as to-read

He hasn't done me wrong yet

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Aug 03, 2012 Sally Pearce added it

Will review later

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May 19, 2013 Kelly marked it as tbr-short-stories

May 13, 2013 Pam Small rated it 5 of 5 stars

May 05, 2013 Mark D marked it as to-read

May 05, 2013 Barry Casey is currently reading it

Apr 27, 2013 Tamara Collins marked it as to-read

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Apr 02, 2013 Ethan Winters rated it 3 of 5 stars

Mar 29, 2013 Jane Hodges rated it 5 of 5 stars

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Mar 12, 2013 Rachel Snyder rated it 1 of 5 stars

Mar 07, 2013 Sherry Bryan rated it 4 of 5 stars

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About Andre Dubus III

Andre Dubus III is the author of Townie, The Garden of Last Days, and House of Sand and Fog (an Oprah Book Club pick and a finalist for the National Book Award). His father, Andre Dubus, was a noted short story writer. Andre Dubus III lives with his family north of Boston.

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