Photo Credit: Christopher Swann
“A feast for the language-lover and a workout for the thrill-minded, Steve De Jarnatt’s short story collection takes us to extremes. Exquisite, raw and absolutely unique tales of peril and wonderment.Their subjects range widely--from disasters at sea to those of a romantic variety, an amputee trapped in an attic during Hurricane Katrina, a unliked girl who brings a rattlesnake to show and tell, a law in Nebraska that allows parents to legally abandon their children. There are fires and floods, tidal waves and heat waves and beached whales, and a masterful prose that is deft and lyrical, that lifts moment after moment into the sublime.”
Janet Fitch, Author White Oleander
Grace for Grace brings celebrated cult filmmaker Steve De Jarnatt’s distinctive voice and cinematic vision to the page. Lush inner lives, idiosyncratic syntax, and sweeping scale characterize these wildly imaginative stories, which present characters in search of meaning and belonging, and often, at the same time, redemption and revenge.
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National Book Review Q &A
Behind the Byline
New England Review
2009 Best American Short Stories
This year’s edition of the well-known anthology engages the world. Selections by Sebold (The Almost Moon, 2007, etc.) tend to grapple with the issues of the day, rather than concerning themselves primarily with the formalistic edicts of academic programs. “Each of these twenty stories is risky in its own way,” comments series editor Pitlor in her foreword. Many of the entries, she continues, “demonstrate the human ability to endure crises and to regenerate afterward.”
Two fictions inspired by the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina couldn’t be more different. “Rubiaux Rising” is the shortest piece here (eight pages) and one of the most powerful. Compressed details deliver a visceral jolt in Steve De Jarnatt’s narrative about an Iraq veteran, addicted to pain killers since he lost an arm and a leg to an IED, who has been locked in an attic by his mother to detox when Katrina (never mentioned) strikes. It’s the first story the author ever submitted for publication, one of the discoveries that makes this series so valuable.
The 40-page “Hurricanes Anonymous” by Adam Johnson is the volume’s longest piece and one of its richest, detailing connections made and lost in the emotional aftermath of two Louisiana storms. “Rubiaux” did not need to be a syllable longer; “Hurricanes” could have sustained the reader’s interest for many more pages. Other tales concern war, past as well as present, and foreign affairs. Another contributor being published for the first time is Zambia-born Namwali Serpell (“Muzungu”); the usual roster of familiar names includes Jill McCorkle, Richard Powers and Annie Proulx; and the collection features multiple selections from such reliably discerning publications as the New Yorker (four) and Tin House (three).As worthwhile as ever—any reader will discover some new favorites here.
“Rubiaux Rising” (a Best American Short Stories selection) is a tale of triumph amid calamity during Hurricane Katrina, while “Her Great Blue” a surreal interspecies love story. “Mulligan” reveals the private pain of parents traveling across the country to give away their children, and “Wraiths in a Swelter” is both a ghost story and a confessional memoir—following a deliriously exhausted EMT through a deadly Chicago heat wave.
Many of the stories in Grace for Grace are set against the backdrop of natural or manmade catastrophes. These disasters test the characters’ limits as they confront sudden changes and extremes, discovering through their unexpected resourcefulness and endurance something beyond suffering. . . something that approaches the sublime.
PODCASTING THEM SOFTLY REVIEW
MRS FLAVIA LOEB — MY ENGLISH TEACHER AT R.A. LONG HIGH SCHOOL - WHO ENCOURAGED MY CHAOTIC CREATIVITY
Was Googling “Rubiaux Rising” to see what might be out on the net — (it has been 10 years since it was in The Best American Short Stories) — and found this - (done recently) Sweet young people - putting on a show —
NEW ENGLAND REVIEW - WEST COAST READING
