Pinocchio's Wife

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

Michael Kenyon may claim that the three stories in this collection grew
“out of a deep concern for film,” but his vision grows more
surrealistic and disjointed with each tale. In the first story,
“Adult,” he depicts the convolutions of a truly memorable homosexual
misalliance in the midst of a frictional family holiday weekend. The
ironies are brilliant, as bittersweet as the best Swiss chocolate. The
self-delusion of the speaker, a pathetic but likable man, captivates
from the first page to the last scene—a Bergmanesque parade up-island
from Victoria. His secondary world of porno videos works perfectly here.
Not so in his second story, “The Lighter,” where a father’s trip
with his daughter keeps dovetailing with a hackneyed Western film being
shot locally. Every time the characters are left to develop, the story
becomes interesting; when the film motif intrudes, however, it leaves
one irritated at having to digest a Grade D Western script. Kenyon’s
last (and title) work completely buries itself in Disney and fantasy.
The narrative is difficult to follow, its point of view is blurry, and
its characters fail to engage. The happy muzziness of the narrator of
“Adult” has become the distorted and broken images in a
kaleidoscope.