Ann Beattie

I am half-ashamed to have not previously have read Ann Beattie. Her writing has an amazing quality of being humorous but profound at the same time, of having pathos and lightness at once. The characters have such a light touch, and yet they astounded me in their realness. (Compare these short stories in their aliveness to some full length novels filled with half-dead people.)

A Beattie story is character driven, slice of life vignettes which are really modern-day commentaries on relationship dynamics and the changing American family and social structure. Those who prefer plot driven, beginning-middle-end stories would not appreciate these rather advanced pieces of art. Do not underestimate the austerity of her prose, the sparseness of her characters. Yet with few words she provides an artistic analysis of the characters who inhabit her spaces. There is wisdom here. Some of the stories feel flimsy, and unfinished--even these are thought provoking. Beattie will leave you scratching your head trying to figure it out--but perhaps the point is to think and to just consider the greater meaning.

The most poignant situations in modern relationships are presented in a way so raw--divorce, step-families, emotional abuse, affairs,narcissism and sociopathy--and yet she still has the ability to sprinkle in a little humor where you least expect it. Some of these had me laughing out loud--but they are always profound, and thought provoking and they made me want to go right back to the beginning and read them again.

Written chronologically as they were published in the New Yorker from 1977-2006, we are able to see the astonishing growth of her talent. The final story, The Confidence Decoy shows this remarkable culmination, where all her best talents fuse together, and yes it is even the funniest.

My personal favorites are :
Fancy Flights
Wolf Dreams
Dwarf House
Wanda's
Colorado
The Lawn Party
Weekend
Tuesday Night
Shifting
The Cinderella Waltz
Running Dreams
Afloat
Girl Talk
Zalla
Find and Replace
The Confidence Decoy… (more)

Beattie, in the New Yorker stories, has a remarkable record of basically recording our society from the point of view of her generation. In A Wonderful Stroke of Luck, she deviates and chronicles the generation coming of age during 9/11. Perhaps this was the wrong premise. The first 50 pages really flows, her use of language the driving force. But not able to feel for the characters, or engage with the plotline it just became a mostly miserable read for me. I enjoyed the occasional poetic moments, and glimmer of her amazing insight that shows up on the page. I just can't say that I liked it as a whole.… (more)

Ann Beattie is an experimental artist. This novella is in a sense an expansion of her themes on narcissistic relationships. For this one, I would say her oh-so-delicate touch is a little too delicate. Still there is her subtle sense of humor and early expose of alternative relationships. But there just wasn't enough here to give me a feel of a literary experience. A novella should give more depth, and she says more in her short stories.

The title also was a stretch. "Walks with Men." Is she saying that a relationship is just a walk we are having with someone? That, like the Buddhists teach, all relationships are transient?… (more)