by Andrew Smith
Canadian author’s published stories make for an elegant collection
In “Sightseeing,” Andrew Smith has collected nine of his short stories, stories originally published in some of Canada’s best literary magazines (Descant, Fiddlehead, The Antigonish Review). Each is elegantly written, featuring a host of diverse characters who’ve been dealt interesting lives. By interesting, of course, I mean complicated and, often, compromised.
Take the opener, “Lost.” It is one of several stories that feature characters with dubious moral centres. Here a probable dastardly deed is willfully overlooked in favor of preserving old friendships.
Similarly, in the titular story two strangers, women brought together by a random tragedy, share unexpected intimacies. Each harbours a secret, but finds deceit is no barrier to friendship.
Memory plays a strong role in many of these stories. This comes in the form of nostalgia in “Last Quickstep, First Waltz.” A mother longingly remembers her dancehall days with her soon-to-be husband. These reflections are brought on by her daughter’s attending dance classes. In a formally bold move, the story’s point-of-view shifts between the two as they reflect on their budding romantic lives.
Memory takes on a bittersweet hue in “The Brothers Barnabotti.” Two brothers, once close but long drifted apart, meet for an impromptu Venetian holiday. As they tentatively renew their old intimacy, their cheerful banter belies their difficult shared past and their recent losses—the death of a husband, the divorce from a wife. As befits the setting, Smith’s descriptions here are beautifully eloquent.
Like “Last Quickstep, First Waltz, “Victory Dance” is formally inventive. It is built around the vivid recollections and hallucinations of a woman who has been viciously brutalized during a home robbery. Alternating with the woman’s present-moment struggle to call for help are memories of the robbery, her history with her husband, her experiences in wartime Liverpool—careful observations that are beautifully described.
As here, when the woman recalls touring the destruction of her war-torn neighbourhood:
She sees yawning gaps where faces of buildings have been blown away. Julia’s eyes can’t resist the zigzag imprint of a lost staircase that winds its way up sheer exposed walls, four storeys high. Each ghostly landing is defined by a different pattern of wallpaper. “Lovingly chosen,” thinks Julia.
Smith has lived in Toronto for decades, but originally hails from England and many of the stories are set there. With their diversity of characters and historical settings, rich complexity, language and, sometimes, humour, these nine stories are a treasure.
{ Cross-posted at goodreads. }