Introducing Character
Many of the stories in this collection commence with a paragraph of character description. That should tell the attentive reader something important. These are not stories where plot is everything. In fact, in most cases, plot is nothing much at all. And yet, they are also more than mere character studies. But it is character over action that is in place here and the character-rich descriptive opening passages foreshadow what is to come afterward:
“Long ago,” Leonora told her children, and the telling was long ago, too, “I was just ordinary.” Of course they didn’t believe her. She was taller than other mothers, with a mouthful of nibbling, nuzzling teeth, and an affectionate chin she used as a lever. Her hair was roan, her eyes taurine. Later the children would look at the handful of photographs of their mother from the time, all blurred and ill lit, as though even the camera were uncertain who she was, and they would try to remember the gobbling slide of her bite along their necks, her mouth loose and toothy on a shoulder. The threat of more. She was voracious. They could not stop laughing. No! No! Again!
Introducing Setting
Of course, it would be misleading to suggest that every opening paragraph focuses on character. “Robinson Crusoe at the Waterpark” is a title that indicates setting is going to take some amount of precedence. The story is still character-driven, but more so than most others setting is definitely of enormous significance:
“They had come to Galveston, the boy and his fathers, to look at the ocean and chaw on saltwater taffy, but Galveston was solid November fog. As they drove down Seawall Boulevard, the Pleasure Pier emerged from the mist like a ghost ship: first the multicolored lights of the roller coaster and Ferris wheel, then a billboard for a restaurant: BUBBA GUMP SHRIMP CO.”
Family Vacations
The title story of this collection uses imagery at one point to highlight the way the very concept of family vacations has changed over the course of their existence in America. Forget the difference between a rotary phone and smartphone. If you really want to point out how much America has changed since the mid-20th century, just do comprehensive study of vacation destinations:
“On her own childhood trips, Joanna had been at the mercy of her father’s interests. He drove the car; he decided where to stop it. Not amusement parks, not tourist traps. Instead: war museums, broken-toothed cemeteries, the former houses of minor historic figures, with tables set for dinner—soup tureens and fluted spoons—and swords crossed over the fireplace. Joanna, aged nine, ten, forever, had wanted to go to Clyde Peeling’s Reptiland. To the Mystery Spot, where ball bearings rolled uphill. To Six Flags Over Anywhere. A sign for Legoland would have driven her mad with longing…Her father would have driven on to some lesser Civil War battlefield to inspect an obelisk.”
How They Met
Almost half the stories in the collection feature a recurring couple, Jack and Sadie. The reader is introduced to them in the opening story, by which time they are already solidly a couple. Those who find Jack and Sadie charming may wish to learn how they came to be together and this is one case where if wishes were nickels, readers will be eating nickel soup. Here is the moment it happens, wrapped in the sort of rom-com cute-meet that is all the rage with the kids today:
“From beneath the hem came a human man, tall and skeletal, Bakelite-eyed, exactly the sort of mortal a puppet might give birth to. His head was triangular, wide at the temples and narrow at the chin; his hair was dark marcel. He looked at her. She thought, I might be the first woman he’s ever met . The expression on his face suggested this was possibly so. A puppeteer , she thought. Yes. Why not?”
