Communist

by Richard Ford

Limited to 240 numbered copies, this being one of 180 bound thus and signed by the author.Title page wood engraving by Gaylord Schanilec. Printed by the Coffee House Press at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts. unpaginated. stiff paper wrappers, paper cover label..

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

28 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1987

About the author

Richard Ford, born February 16, 1944 in Jackson, Mississippi, is an American novelist and short story writer. His best-known works are the novel The Sportswriter and its sequels, Independence Day, The Lay of the Land and Let Me Be Frank With You, and the short story collection Rock Springs, which contains several widely anthologized stories. Comparisons have been drawn between Ford's work and the writings of John Updike, William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway and Walker Percy.

His novel Independence Day won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1996, also winning the PEN/Faulkner Award in the same year.

Reviews

[A Sprague · Rating 2 out of 5]

Taken directly form my class roundtable discussion.

This seemed like a weak example of rite of passage. Sure, in some circles the first hunt is a rite, but Les seemed already familiar. And it was not until near the end when Les felt sorry for Glen Baxter that I really felt there was any character growth or development across all parties. From the beginning, the mother knew that hunting was a way of life but that leaving one injured “just because” is cruel. And Les- He couldn’t seem more unenthusiastic if he tried.

The line “too much awareness to early in life…” (p. 225) sums up his mother nicely. We are unaware of the exact loss of innocence, but we do know it affected her life and in turn how she raised her son. They both have the idea that love comes and goes, which is implication that people come and go throughout your life and whether you acknowledge it consciously or subconsciously, they affected your way of life.

[Kristi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Richard Ford's writing is spare but marvelous in capturing characters and a life event. I liked the story very much, but am puzzled why it had the title of Communist. Kristi & Abby Tabby

[Shuggy L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Historical background is important to this story of the American heartland.

Set in Victory, Montana 1960s, near Floweree, a coming-of-age narrative by Les, the narrator, as a forty-one year old.

It's about his first shooting snow geese from Siberia prairie expedition, as a teenager.

The story is from years ago. Les, as a sixteen years old, is with his mother, Aileen (she is a passenger in the car), and her then boyfriend, Glen Baxter.

Glen is a self-designated Communist, applied to himself because of his prior Vietnam military service.

It eventually becomes known that the number of Vietnamese deaths far outnumbered the invading Americans. Later on, this might be something that Glen comes around to thinking about.

At the time though, Glen might be internalizing Aileen's dismay at his focus on hunting, and its parallels to his war-time activities: "to see dead animals."

Presence on private property, earthworks, bunkers, a large number of birds, like people, to be killed from, all echo a war: "Five thousand... more than you can believe."

The geese are personified interchangeably with enemy soldiers from whom there is all round alienation: "quarreling and shouting."

There are references to shooting strategy, and the subsequent wounded and dead animals: "it landed with an awful sound."

Aileen's words echo the men in the larger community, including her deceased husband, when she says the local men are prone to: "killing and maiming."

Aileen comes along on the hunting trip because of son Les and providing a male model.

Her comments, though, leave an opening for the Les to think about the validity of his actions at a later date: "Geese mate for life."

Through the hunting expedition, the story is able to capture something of the shifting political perceptions of people over time.

There is irony in a underserved community lacking a progressive and communal outlook.

...
See: Jane Mayer: Dark Money (2016)
See: The Viethnam War (1955-1975)
See: http://eng104.blog.sbc.edu/2017/10/10...
See: https://tonymckibbin.com/article/rich...

The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies.

North Vietnam was supported by the Soviet Union and China, while South Vietnam was supported by the United States and other anti-communist nations. Wikipedia.

[Sohail · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not familiar with Richard Ford's fiction, therefore I'm not sure if this short story is a result of the cold-war era (and explicitly about communism) or a more generalized commentary on all anti-humanist ideologies. As much as I hate communism, I don't want to read works of fiction that either condemn or condone this or that political ideology. To me, Anti-X is just as pathetic as X.

I liked the humanist tone of the story though, and how it (perhaps unintentionally) rages against all of the political ideologies that ignore the individual by claiming to serve the greater good (including both communism and cold-war era American chauvinism).

[Cassandra Ramos]

This book was just okay. I kept waiting for the plot only to realize there wasn’t one. Ford made the focus of the short story on the characters which required strong characters. I can say that after reading the story a few more times it grew on me a little, but not enough for me to give it a rating higher than what I did.

I also realized although Les is the narrator and main character, his mom Aileen was the strongest character for me she has a sad story but does her best to be happy with the path that was handed to her. Maybe after reading it a few more times I’ll love it who knows.

[Madelyn Solorzano · Rating 2 out of 5]

Richard Ford’s writing is comparable to Ernest Hemingway’s. The prose itself is a bit lackluster. The story feels dry, stale, and frankly void of any emotional intelligence beyond the cliché, “love comes and goes.”

The main character lacks any ounce of enthusiasm for life which makes it hard to stay fully engaged. There seems to be a small voice of reason (the mom) who has a small degree of empathy for harmed animals, but other than that the story seems to be a depressing void of underwhelming word dumping.

[Michael Sorbello · Rating 3 out of 5]

A melancholy short story that effectively portrays the conflicted emotions of a growing boy that was subjected to watching his mother and father go through a divorce. He's detached, he's emotionally confused, he doesn't know if he can bring himself to get wrapped up in complex human relationships. It's an accurate coming of age story about an emotionally conflicted boy slowly coming to terms with the world and its many flaws and burdens. Not too dark and not too light, just the right balance.

[Isabel · Rating 2 out of 5]

this is why you should never live in Montana

[Anthony · Rating 3 out of 5]

Forty year old Les reflects back to when he was sixteen years old, and his mother's on and off again lover Glen Baxter takes them both hunting in the Montana flat plains for wild geese. This hunting trip is Les's rite of passage into manhood, although his mother is against the hunt, she allows Les to follow through with it.