The Vanguard

Issue date: 3/20/08 Section: A&E

Reading a collection of short stories is quite a luxury after days of novels. Such is the case with Bang Crunch by Neil Smith. It was a bestseller in Canada when first published last year, had some stories nominated for literary prizes, and has been translated into other languages.

Isolettes is a sad opening story about An, a woman who gives birth for the first time not by the usual way of nature with the help of Jacob, her apparently homosexual friend. Love is depicted to be fragile and almost too superficial in the world of An and Jacob. The idea of bringing a child into life to fill up some sort of emptiness casts a gray shadow over the story, as the following quotes shows. "She felt a bit adrift, she said. Bringing up a child would anchor her. Now she feels she's dropped the anchor overboard without securing it to the boat."

Despite the darkened mood of the story, there are some really good conversations and descriptions that are worth underlining. For example, "But sometimes no talent is better. That way, you don't even try. When you have a little talent, you plough ahead regardless and get disappointed when you come up short."

It happens every now and then, but to put such emotion into words is not an easy task. Though Bang Crunch is Smith's first book, his choice of words, situations, and emotions are of a skillful writer. The ending of Isolettes, which I read over and over because of confusion at first, turns out to be especially beautiful. For the latter reason I keep going back to those few lines - and the scene looks like a real life observation rather than literary imagination.

This feeling was later confirmed after reading Green Fluorescent Protein, which has a character connection to other stories in the book, providing some continuity. Similar to Isolettes, Green Fluorescent Protein introduces one character who deals with confusion and constant fear (Max) while the other (Ruby-Doo, which rhymes with Scooby Doo) is very certain of his choices. One of these choices is the sexual orientation that the characters know in them as well as show to the world. Neil Smith has made it clear through Isolettes and Green Fluorescent Protein that fully accepting what we are is by no means a simple task, no matter how easy it seems to just say it.

I would recommend you read Green Fluorescent Protein more than once to fully capture the stream of thoughts and development of emotions between Max and Ruby-Doo. While the age of the characters might make the story sound like a teenagers' adventurous experiment, this is a very nice story on youngsters, homosexuality, and the thirst of understanding. The plot and the narrative style are not typical enough to represent Neil Smith from the technical perspective, but this is one of a few stories in the whole collection that is memorable.

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