Poetitions and pensees - all good

A dozen or so short stories, each with a clever twist on mainly male, mainly American, mainly middle-aged foibles, self-obsession and failings. I found they resonated with me. I found them witty and thought-provoking. I found them a subtle counterpoint to much female focused fiction. I considered the stories as a plausible reveal of a generation of men.

Where do I start? The story entitled Referees where a divorced man in his forties struggles to find and persuade two friends/acquaintances to provide him with a character reference for a new apartment let; The World of Cheese in which a mother cannot understand her middle-aged son’s shifting of all blame for his own failings onto her, as well as his recently acquired passion for specific cheeses; The Death of Billy Joel, underlying the pointlessness of meeting up with friends from the past (as well as playing golf); The Poltroon Husband, where a couple suspect an intruder in their dwelling, but the husband declines to investigate, overcome by ‘a dreamlike inertness’, an ‘oneiric paralysis’, a ‘mental whiteout’; these are men who refuse to grow up, who employ words rather than actions, whose obsessions focus on the trivial – a sort of metaphor, I think, for modern western society, with its refusal to focus on what really matters.

Another delight is the author’s use of language, his employment of pseudo-intellectual contemporary jargon in the portrayal of his asinine and ultimately shallow characters.

Enjoyed reading this, as I did his breakthrough novel, Netherland, without either really making me feel it was doing anything I hadn't encountered before. There are insightful stories about ageing, families and relationships and some funny moments (e.g. the opening of 'The Moustache in', although re an easy target), but nothing that prompted a particularly strong response. Overall, a collection that's worth reading as it makes you smile and prompts moments of recognition while you're reading it but may not stay long with you afterwards.

At certain times when I need to get out of a reading rut, a good jolt of short stories seems to do the trick and this collection was perfect for me. Witty and gently subversive, observations of middle-aged male self-justification for inaction and prevarication predominate. I particularly enjoyed ‘The Poltroon Husband’ in which a man is paralysed by fear (or as he describes it, a mysterious neurological spasm) that prevents him getting out of bed at night to investigate noises downstairs, forcing his wife to do so. In a similar vein, in ‘The Sinking of the Houston’ a father, determined to confront his son’s mugger, finds himself distracted by his neighbour’s old war stories.

One that resonated with me especially is ‘The Referees’, in which a divorced man looking to rent an apartment for himself for the first time in years has difficulty finding anyone willing to write him a character reference. My absolute favourite, though, is a woman’s story, ’The World of Cheese’, in which a mother is flummoxed by her son’s contradictory behaviour and double-speak, making her the culprit in their family rift.

The humour is subtle, perfectly aimed and very, very effective. I loved it. Some interesting images, too - one that struck me particularly is one’s world as a bar of soap, shriveling to a small, hard nugget, and the luxurious relief we feel when we reach the point when we feel we can renew it.

I haven’t read anything by Joseph O’Neill before and this collection has inspired me to seek out his novels, starting with the award-winning and acclaimed ‘Netherland’.

With thanks to Harper Collins 4th Estate via NetGalley for the opportunity to read an ARC - one with a much more attractive cover picture than the edition currently on goodreads, of a white goose.