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The Last Shot: Eleven Stories and a Novella
From one of Canada's most compelling and imaginative writers of short fiction comes a new collection of eleven stories and a novella.
With stories both magical and unexpected, Leon Rooke astounds with his approach to the art of storytelling.
From the novella about the surreal adventures of Prissy Thibidault in the deep south watching alligator wrestling while white racists turn into blacks; to stories that include the strange wanderings of a boy called Dark in search of his mother; the escape of a couple of gay friends from their respective relationships for the bright lights of Paris; the negotiations with J.D. Salinger for a bag of his garbage; the torment that six-year-old twins inflict on their blind grandfather while their absent mother gives a boyfriend one last shot at romance; the unemployed man who helps to exterminate mosquitoes pleads his case before a judge about the capriciousness of his life.
With stories both magical and unexpected, Leon Rooke astounds with his approach to the art of storytelling.
From the novella about the surreal adventures of Prissy Thibidault in the deep south watching alligator wrestling while white racists turn into blacks; to stories that include the strange wanderings of a boy called Dark in search of his mother; the escape of a couple of gay friends from their respective relationships for the bright lights of Paris; the negotiations with J.D. Salinger for a bag of his garbage; the torment that six-year-old twins inflict on their blind grandfather while their absent mother gives a boyfriend one last shot at romance; the unemployed man who helps to exterminate mosquitoes pleads his case before a judge about the capriciousness of his life.
- GenresShort StoriesCanada
240 pages, Hardcover
First published August 15, 2009
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November 8, 2009Eleven tirelessly inventive stories and a novella; each has a certain flourish, a sense that the author is saying, "watch what I bust loose on ya this time," and it never grows old or seems contrived.
Magic realism in the short story, unless executed at a high level, often seems to be nothing but a gimmick adopted to relieve a writer of the chore of creating interest in a straightforward, realist narrative. It declares the story's originality with a blast of trumpets, shouts, "look at me, I am new." This is, no doubt, why it has become a staple of our little magazines. But there is no such cheap trickery here.
Rooke's stories are above all vocal performances; they're about voice. This is most obvious in the dialect-soaked novella, "Gator Wrestling"; at first, getting past the dialect is challenging, but then you adapt. And it offers up gems like this:
In Prissy's estimation Ganger was a boy of weirdly morbid and demented disposition. He was gravely barbecued in the belfry.
Not only barbecued, but gravely so, and in the belfry no less. Rooke, in this novella, invents his own idiom.
Standout stories in this volume include the hilarious "How to Write a Successful Short Story," in which a novice writer sits down to do just that, "Lamplighter Bridegroom 360," which proceeds not from character-with-problem but from the reader's curiosity as to what the heck is going on, and "The Last Shot," which won the CBC Literary Award.
Highly recommended.
Magic realism in the short story, unless executed at a high level, often seems to be nothing but a gimmick adopted to relieve a writer of the chore of creating interest in a straightforward, realist narrative. It declares the story's originality with a blast of trumpets, shouts, "look at me, I am new." This is, no doubt, why it has become a staple of our little magazines. But there is no such cheap trickery here.
Rooke's stories are above all vocal performances; they're about voice. This is most obvious in the dialect-soaked novella, "Gator Wrestling"; at first, getting past the dialect is challenging, but then you adapt. And it offers up gems like this:
In Prissy's estimation Ganger was a boy of weirdly morbid and demented disposition. He was gravely barbecued in the belfry.
Not only barbecued, but gravely so, and in the belfry no less. Rooke, in this novella, invents his own idiom.
Standout stories in this volume include the hilarious "How to Write a Successful Short Story," in which a novice writer sits down to do just that, "Lamplighter Bridegroom 360," which proceeds not from character-with-problem but from the reader's curiosity as to what the heck is going on, and "The Last Shot," which won the CBC Literary Award.
Highly recommended.
Displaying 1 of 1 review