Warning: reader’s discretion is advised. This is my first blog, not only for Lemuria, but in general.
Adam Johnson’s new collection of short stories, Fortune Smiles, is a must-read for anyone who is looking for a fresh voice in the literary world or for those of you who are already a fan, which I am fast becoming. It has been some time since I read a collection of short stories that so captivated me that I became lost in the stories themselves.
The six stories that are comprised within Fortune Smiles are each unique in voice and technique. My first approach to this collection was to start somewhere in the middle, and I quickly learned my mistake after a subtle confession followed by severe reaction from fellow employees: “You can’t just begin with any story you feel like! I didn’t know anyone actually did that!?” Yes, I had committed the ultimate sin of reading a collection of short stories, and I am glad that I didn’t shrug off what they had said. When I came home from work that day I read the first story, which is fairly long, and of course I enjoyed it, but it wasn’t until the next morning when reading the second story in the collection that I began to realize the reason for their outcry. For lo and behold, the two were connected, and after I had read the second and the third; wouldn’t you know it, the three were interrelated. A spiritual awakening had occurred: my literary eyes were opened and the scales of shortsightedness fell to the wayside. I had been delivered and entered into a new state of being. I must confess that I haven’t read the last short story “Fortune Smiles”, for the reason of it being directly related to the plot of The Orphan Master’s Son, which I have yet to read.
Mr. Johnson has the unique ability of shaking the reader out of their current reality and transporting them to his world of words. The stories found within are more than entertainment; they confront the reader with real questions of humanity; and not just that, but with questions of the self in general. Or maybe it is that his surrealistic stories dislocate the self entirely? The stories work off of one another in a way to create an awareness of estrangement, as if what is being told is at both nostalgic and alien all in the same. Regardless of what is really taking place with the story and its effects upon the reader, this is for sure, once the last word is read you surely will say to yourself “what the f***?” and puke. It is difficult to be the same person after having read a collection of stories such as these.
After reading this book, I went and bought up everything Johnson has published to date in hopes of stepping into his work. If only I had more time to really give the attention that writers like Johnson deserve. It would be difficult at this point to say that any one of the six stories is a favorite for the sole reason of wanting to become more. The stories bring to mind Karen Russell’s work because Adam Johnson also takes ordinary things and makes them extraordinary; both writers have surrealistic tendencies, although Johnson’s approach and writing style is slightly different. He successfully dislocates the reader from reality in a way that realigns them with his characters. I highly recommend this collection of short stories and I am excited to read more of his work.
Comments are closed.