#700 The Man with the Hat- Sheila Heti

#700 The Man with the Hat- Sheila Heti

The angst of a writer, the heart of a writer, the soul of a writer—these were all things embraced by the man. Unfortunately he lived the life of a writer, a failed one at that. He hasn’t written a thing, but he feels like he could. Don’t we all?

To his friends and drinking companions he is a bum, and a leach. He gets kicked out of one bar or the next, and his anger turns to self hatred, despair, and then just a little poetic hope. “What right had he to kill himself when there were stars in the sky, twinkling all innocent and not noticing him and noticing nothing.”

Heti’s stories are the epitome of the short form. Most are brain droppings of small nuggets left to ponder, rarely fully developed as stories, and that’s fine, that seems to be the point. This one is more complete, and a good look at the struggles of an unrealized creative mind.

Notable Passage: “The truth’s got nothing to do with your life.”

Rating: 8-7-7-7 Total= 29

#666 The Man From Out of Town- Sheila Heti

#666 The Man From Out of Town- Sheila Heti

At first this seems like an amusing innocuous boy-meets-girl tale, but of course it isn’t. Heti has a comic eye about  romantic interactions and the pretense that comes with them.

“It was her high ass that mysteriously lifted itself up to her waist that caused the man to see what a nice girl she was, and how pleasant she would be to spend good times with.”

Or:

“There were simple ways some woman had of telling a good guy from a bad, and her way was as stupid as any.”

Pick your adage for this one: A good man is hard to find—Don’t trust strangers—Men are dogs—A bird in the hand…etc. Who knows, this is what it is. Like all of these little vignettes, they usually leave you with an impression, this one leaves you with a slap in the face.

Rating: 7-6-7-5 Total= 25

#560 Eleanor- Sheila Heti

#560 Eleanor- Sheila Heti

This is a very odd story, playing in a surreal kind of world.

-Eleanor’s Grandmother is suffering from dementia.

-She has a stroke that she blames on Eleanor.

-Grandmother falls down two flights of stairs, an act that is witnessed by Tim.

-Tim’s friends are jealous that they didn’t see it.

-Tim is a kind of depressed kid that kicks rocks at cars.

-Grandmother wrote a will on a notebook…she leaves everything funny to Tim.

-Eleanor has a date…but only if he agrees to buy her ice cream.

-Her date runs at her screaming her name.

-He brought her a gift…it was a six-colored beanie.

-She doesn’t like the gift…”It didn’t even make her laugh.”

-“This is my fucking life.”

I like what this story tries to do, but I thin it falls a little short—or else I just didn’t get it (always a strong possibility).

Rating: 7-7-6-5 Total= 25

#435 The Miss and Sylvia and Sam- Sheila Heti

#435 The Miss and Sylvia and Sam- Sheila Heti

This is definitely an outlier in the type of stories I’ve been reading for this blog. The collection is The Middle Stories, they are short, a kind of fantastical/mythical group of imaginings.

The Miss is a flitty, little woman hopping through the market asking over and over “How much is this, how much is this?” She is approached by Sylvia the vendor who claims to know Miss from a former life. Sam is Sylvia’s brother (so she says) and is marrying Miss in three weeks.

It feels like nothing sticks to these characters, like each moment is barely connected to the one before. An emotion can change just like that, and be forgotten in the next instant. This is a kind of bizarre way to live in the moment. Just be careful not to get struck by lightning.

Rating: 6-8-6-6 Total= 26

#414 The Princess and the Plumber- Sheila Heti

#414 The Princess and the Plumber- Sheila Heti

This was another week of all new collections. This one is the odd and quirky book, The Middle Stories of Sheila Heti. It’s an odd, but fun mix of fairy-tale and dream where modern life seeps into a Disney film.

The plumber is in love with the princess, and must have her. She doesn’t love him and rebuffs his proposals.

“That evening he went home and, using a hammer and some wood, built the most marvelous marriage contraption the world has ever seen. It takes a special kind of man to invent something new, something never before thought of, and that night, inspired by her rejection, he did just that.”

We never find out exactly what the contraption is, nor does the princess. She refuses to see him and the castle is under quarantine with a disease. He is to blame, a meddlesome frog tells him, but we don’t know why. We do know that world is changing and people will soon live to be two hundred years old, and with nothing but leisure tike, because everyone will love in the new welfare state. But the plumber cries filling the world with his sadness like snow covers the hills.

Rating: 7-8-8-7 Total= 30