Fish-Hooks

Jere D. Turner is Adult Collections Co-ordinator at the Regina Public
Library in Saskatchewan.

Only two of the thirteen stories in this collection are worth reading. The others, firmly identified with the past by the use of such dated clichés as “And that’s the truth” (Laugh-In) and obvious adaptations of popular songs of the sixties (“Corrina, Corrina”) leave the reader with a “who cares?” attitude.

Many of the stories touch on the lives of Dave Jones, Delia, his girlfriend/wife/ex-wife, and Ron James, Delia’s next regular lover. These people are as mind-numbing as a cold, grey, rainy day on the prairies. It is impossible to care about them.

Some of the other stories are either ridiculous (e.g.,“Berserk in a Waterbed,” where a live salmon is supposed to inhabit a waterbed and affect the sex lives of the protagonists) or they are ridiculous and obscure (e.g., “The New West Testament,” where everyone turns into buffaloes which then destroy civilization as we know it).

One of the two good stories is “Coretta, Coretta.” Not able to face the world after the death of her husband, Coretta Lamb has not left her house for many years. However, curiosity gets the better of her and one day she sails off into the modern world in her ancient Packard. Coretta then has a number of humorous adventures including meeting and marrying another man and producing a son. After Coretta and Ed have died, their son, Xavier, lives on in the house with the ghosts of Coretta and Ed, who are responsible for a number of peculiar happenings in the neighborhood. The story has interesting characters, humor, and the right amount of mystery.

“Fish-hooks” is the best story in this collection — a gem with tightly controlled use of the English language and excellent imagery. Fishing as a metaphor for life is well taken, as are the parallel desires and fates of the hero and a jackfish. “Fish-hooks” has a mystical realism that penetrates deeply into the emotions and lingers on in the mind.

Read “Fish-hooks” and “Coretta, Coretta” and forget the rest. These two stories are worth a trip to your local public library.