|
A
blind man can see how great a writer Amy Bloom is. A practicing
psychotherapist as well, Bloom exhibits a mastery over her craft
that few short story writers do. A BLIND MAN CAN SEE HOW MUCH I
LOVE YOU is a perfect collection of stories about human beings who
could actually be people with whom you interact in everyday life.
The frailties and insecurities of Bloom's characters resonate with
honest construction --- they say and do things that make sense.
In mining what our hip urban culture has declared dead and deadening,
namely the American suburb, Bloom taps into an emotional current
or two that runs through real people's real lives. In "Rowing To
Eden," a cancer patient, her heartsick husband, and her valient
best friend, a lesbian and cancer survivor herself, end up taking
care of each other in quiet and meaningful ways. In "Night Vision,"
an uncomfortable homecoming becomes a time of unexpected nurturing
during which a mother tells her son, "I love you past speech." (Now
that's dialogue!) In the title story, another protective mother
watches her love for her child swing a pendulum of strange emotions
as her child undergoes sex-change surgery. Normal people who encounter
and overcome extreme circumstances are the definition of "heroes."
This book can barely contain the courage and admirable strength
and fortitude found in its characters.
They are not sentimental stories, nor do they bend to the whims
of melodrama. Rather, they are all the more moving because Bloom
recognizes just how moving they are --- she doesn't fudge their
impact with unnecessary emotional embellishment. She knows she doesn't
need to sell us on the importance of these situations in the lives
of her creations --- we feel it as if we've known them all our lives,
thanks to her skill and craft.
Each story is as complete as a novel. Bloom's uncanny ability to
delve under the skins of the seemingly pale-hearted average citizen
who lives in a world mad for prefabricated specialness is particularly
rewarding to the reader --- each of these characters is very special
if only because they are individuals, not hipster icons masquerading
as characters. No publicist could spin these lives she weaves into
anything more wondrous than what we read about on the page.
A BLIND MAN CAN SEE HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU is a four-star adventure
for a serious reader, a lover of humanity who turns to art to see
the realities of life reflected back at them couched in confident
words and emotions.
---Reviewed by Jana Siciliano
© Copyright 1996-2008, Bookreporter.com. All rights reserved.
|
