I Can Fix Anything

Louise E. Allin, a poet and short-story writer, is also an English instructor at Cambrian College.

Gary Whitehead’s short stories manifest dogged workmanship but little
inspiration. Many are derivative: a journalistic account of the filming
of King Kong; a man’s fulfilment of a dream to move to Mayberry; a
lucky meeting with Bogart in Morocco. Yet even on his own, he cannot
take the reader beyond the banalities of taking showers, watching
television, or walking with a stubborn erection (“Naked Us”).
Conversation seldom rises above “slice of life,” leaving slender
plots in limbo and characterizations flat: “Everything ok with you?
... Everything is great with me ... I need a shower ... A real hot one
... How was work?” Whitehead has not yet grasped the idea of selective
dialogue and incident, a crucial concept that involves showing that the
characters are boring without boring the reader. Two stories are written
in the quirky and limited second person, which quickly pales after its
initial novelty: “In the late afternoon you leave the kitchen through
the laundry room and enter your garage. You pull open the big aluminium
door, then climb into the car and back into the driveway.” There is no
stage set here, no real passion and clashing, no real growth. His most
successful effort, “She Makes Your World Flat,” plays its
symbol—the construction of a jigsaw puzzle—with some success, but
leaves too many questions. He might present a more successful collection
next time.