Melvin Jules Bukiet
I spotted this in the library and, attracted both by virtue of having met the author and by the startling originality of the stories as promised by the book's jacket flap. Unfortunately, originality is almost the sole strength of this collection, which presents incredibly intriguing ideas with disappointing and woefully overwrought prose. This collection is a perfect representation of what happens when excellent ideas are conveyed through mediocre writing, and it demonstrates the necessity of neat prose and subtle wit in good, readable, and relaxing literature. Bukiet certainly doesn't fail for lack of trying. His stories are nearly all original, and even recycled ideas (most prominently the Faust motif of "The Swap") are fresh in his hands. As an avid fan of the Faust motif, I was pleased to read this take on it, though the ending falls rather flat (as several of the endings sadly do) and is unnecessarily confusing. "Paper Hero" likewise takes an entirely predictable plot and infuses it with the over-the-top humor it deserves, failing only because its humor is a little too forced, even in a story that demands bluntness. The story's finale, "War Heroes" is likewise an intriguing character study that carries on for twenty pages past its prime and which approaches its utterly disappointing ending at a lolling pace quite unsuited to its material.
It is this fundamental disconnect between intention and execution that mars and ultimately sinks Bukiet's collection. Misplaced colloquialisms dot the lazy text, and far too often Bukiet's interesting ideas are abandoned in a sea of ill-chosen adjectives and irrelevant side stories. Each story is radically different from the others and each demands a look at the human psyche, but none contains the insightful and evocative writing that best explores the darker side of human nature. The collection hangs together as each story studies a different way that humans lie, but unfortunately the stories are only memorable for their approaches and not the actual lives they probe. This is extremely unfortunate because Bukiet bravely takes on several genres: from alternative biography ("The Two Franzes") to science fiction ("But, Microsoft! What Byte Through Yonder Windows Breaks?"), Bukiet is equally able to create a consistent narrative world, failing completely only in the perplexing "Suburbiad", which represents his failure to communicate at its utter nadir.
In the end, this collection is highly disappointing, mostly because the imagination behind the collection is clearly so vibrant and insightful. Bukiet falls flat on his jokes and cannot deliver his insights because he is trying far too hard to deliver the kind of self-congratulatory writing he so clearly detests in so many of the stories of this collection. He is unable to remove himself entirely from the Pulitzer-chasing authors in his stories and comes off as a hack, a reputation more deserved because of the appalling state of some of the stories' sentences. With each story I was waiting for a rebirth, a gust of talent to sweep me off of my chair and into the parallel narrative universe. As each story faded, however, I was left with only the shell of a brilliant idea, a group of products over-promised and under-delivered, too self-conscious to be as revealing as they should be and all the more disappointing for their extraordinary potential.
Grade: C
It is this fundamental disconnect between intention and execution that mars and ultimately sinks Bukiet's collection. Misplaced colloquialisms dot the lazy text, and far too often Bukiet's interesting ideas are abandoned in a sea of ill-chosen adjectives and irrelevant side stories. Each story is radically different from the others and each demands a look at the human psyche, but none contains the insightful and evocative writing that best explores the darker side of human nature. The collection hangs together as each story studies a different way that humans lie, but unfortunately the stories are only memorable for their approaches and not the actual lives they probe. This is extremely unfortunate because Bukiet bravely takes on several genres: from alternative biography ("The Two Franzes") to science fiction ("But, Microsoft! What Byte Through Yonder Windows Breaks?"), Bukiet is equally able to create a consistent narrative world, failing completely only in the perplexing "Suburbiad", which represents his failure to communicate at its utter nadir.
In the end, this collection is highly disappointing, mostly because the imagination behind the collection is clearly so vibrant and insightful. Bukiet falls flat on his jokes and cannot deliver his insights because he is trying far too hard to deliver the kind of self-congratulatory writing he so clearly detests in so many of the stories of this collection. He is unable to remove himself entirely from the Pulitzer-chasing authors in his stories and comes off as a hack, a reputation more deserved because of the appalling state of some of the stories' sentences. With each story I was waiting for a rebirth, a gust of talent to sweep me off of my chair and into the parallel narrative universe. As each story faded, however, I was left with only the shell of a brilliant idea, a group of products over-promised and under-delivered, too self-conscious to be as revealing as they should be and all the more disappointing for their extraordinary potential.
Grade: C
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