Victims of Gravity

Boyd Holmes is an editor with Dundurn Press.

This short-story collection is the first book from a writer whose work
has already appeared in such prestigious perennial volumes as Best
Canadian Stories and the defunct Macmillan Anthology. The 11 pieces
included here will not be thematically suprising to regular readers of
Canadian short fiction: the subjects include familial conflict and
coping with death; the settings, although rarely specified, are usually
within contemporary North America; and the characters are seemingly
unexceptional people. The shadow of Alice Munro falls throughout Victims
of Gravity, not only because of similarities in subjects, settings, and
characters, but also because James-French shares her fondness for
simple, direct diction.

It is always a pleasure to welcome fully a noteworthy writer,
particularly when that person avoids completely the common problems of
young authors: James-French’s prose is never affected, mechanical,
over-written, or loose. The book also displays a number of positive
distinctions: a striking yet controlled sense of imagery (“Ken keeps
his eyes focused on a spot about the size of a host, consecrated or not,
on his father’s chest; the suction pad of the cardiac monitor. During
his last complete physical, Ken lay on a cold metal table with these
clinging to his own chest, his upper arms, his calves, their slight
tugging exactly the sensation of being nibbled by fish”) and a genuine
wit, such as in the opening story’s dialogue. James-French’s
skillful avoidance of preachiness also deserves consideration: his
stories’ final sentences are often ironic or ambiguous, and relate
directly to the themes of his fictions, yet these sentences are neither
didactic nor placed clumsily. To appreciate this virtue, as well as
James-French’s other strengths, it is first necessary to buy Victims
of Gravity. Do so.