A first collection of 18 stories from novelist Gebler (The Cure,
1994, not reviewed; etc.), writing from Northern Ireland, ranges
near and far to provide gritty closeups of life's
less-distinguished moments, when desperation most overwhelms. The
title piece presents an elderly emigre couple in London who are all
but consumed by guilt at their only son's suicide a few years
earlier. Their inability to release their sadness by acknowledging
a share of the blame is finally ended when the son's widow stops by
to tell them she's remarrying. This is about as cheery as these
stricken tales get. The opener, "The Chekhov Student," is more
typically lugubrious. It presents another elderly couple, unhappily
married for decades, whose moment of enlightenment comes when the
meek husband ("My name is Douglas Peter. . . I am extremely
miserable. . . . I need to describe the troubles of my life"),
having stood up at last to his spouse in one of their rows,
concludes on reflection that he's about to die. "Puerto
Vallarta,"set in that Mexican resort, centers on a deranged,
child-chomping Rottweiler, whose spectacular electrocution in a
violent storm (as it gnaws on a pilfered chicken) is greeted with
cheers by the neighbors. "Four Pesos," which takes place in a Cuban
coastal town, concerns a petty but disastrous betrayal by a
Canadian tourist, on holiday to forget her just-failed marriage,
who agrees to buy forbidden goods from the tourists-only store for
the maid who cleans her room, then turns her in when the woman
comes up a few pesos short in their exchange. The message here,
"It's a grim world, after all," albeit precisely rendered, at the
same time suffers from too narrow a focus on the bruised or broken
marriage theme: tellingly, the one suggestion of a joyous union,
between a journalist and the daughter of the landed gentry he's
interviewing ("A Short Story"), comes across as utterly fatuous.
(Kirkus Reviews)
The characters depicted in this volume lead lives which are
quintessentially modern; lonely, rootless and uncertain. These are
not, however, stories of complaint or lament or melancholy. On the
contrary, they illuminate and celebrate the courage and joy that
are to be found flourishing in the most unlikely corners of human
existence.
An essential primer for the way we live today, "W9 and Other
Stories" spans the entire globe as each story gently shifts the
reader's attention from one location to the next. A good number of
them are situated in the author's native Ireland, where possessing
a keen sense of place has a special significance all of its own.
Novelist, playwright and broadcaster Carlo Gbler was born in Dublin
in 1954, the son of famous Irish novelist Edna O'Brien. A graduate
of York University and the National Film and Television School,
Gbler has directed a number of television documentaries and
contributed articles to many prominent newspapers and magazines. He
now lives in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland. His
other works include "How to Murder a Man," published by Marion
Boyars in 1999.
"Gbler at his disturbing best."?"The Sunday Times"
"Powerfully memorable."?"Daily Telegraph"
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