House of Anansi Press, 2007
Read by Jenny Sampirisi
At the front of Long Story Short is Elyse Friedman’s tender, funny and emotional novella, “A Bright Tragic Thing.” In it a teen boy, amused by the fermented irony of 80s B-list actors, befriends a former sitcom star. What is striking about this story is its ability to show adolescent cruelty alongside adolescent confusion over what constitutes cool. The main character experiences the world as a series of ironic moments and so, when faced with the raw vulnerability of a sincere relationship with a girl or an emotional investment in his friend, he falters. The tension between the characters is writhingly palpable throughout and succeeds in asking us to question our own cultural filters.
The short fiction that follows the novella is peppered with individuals who seek love and meaning in their lives. Any other collection and this would be banal and predictable. The quirky path to truth that each story takes however, saves this book from dullness. The characters are bright, funny and oddly genuine despite the dripping irony that coats many of the stories.
Within the dark humour there are larger social, class and gender issues, which are handled with sincerity. Female characters are especially ensnared by the tensions between old social mores and new ones. In “Lost Kitten,” a debate between two male roommates reveals a deep misogyny; in “Truth,” a couple on a first date reveal their insecurities and expectations, unsheathing a multitude of ingrained gender conventions; in “A Bright Tragic Thing,” the actor’s memory of a teenage love affair is often tinged with misogynist retellings among the more tender accounts. However, the strongest story in the collection, “The Soother,” turns male gender stereotypes on their heads as we watch a patriarch cope with the frustrations and exhaustions of his role through infantilism. Long Story Short allows us to engage these uncomfortable larger issues through humour and sharp prose, and the result is unexpectedly empathetic and fun.
