Margaret Lives in the Basement

Sarah Robertson is editor of the Canadian Book Review Annual.

Margaret Lives in the Basement is the second collection of short stories
by the author of How to Get There from Here (1997). Michelle Berry is an
accomplished storyteller whose tales are well served by her crisp and
evocative prose.

In Berry’s fictional universe, romantic relationships have a short
shelf life. Sexual betrayal (and fatigue) is a recurring theme in this
collection. Although Berry’s characters tend to be self-absorbed—a
quality underlined by her skilful and subtle use of multiple
perspectives—they are not invariably unsympathetic. The 11 stories
(all of which have unspecified settings) are peopled with disillusioned
and warring couples, eccentric and desperate singles, and banished
spouses.

One of the characters featured in the title story is an unemployed
shut-in who, given the opportunity, “would stay in his house and watch
television and knit until the day he died.” In “Dust,” a couple
that have suffered a miscarriage project their grief onto imaginary
housecleaning challenges—dust in her case, bathroom mould in his. In
“Rosemary’s Vacation,” the unattractive heroine embarks on a
feverish quest for “a nice man, preferably one with a good sense of
humour, maybe some money, and the ability to hold an erection for more
than five minutes.”

Black humor is the driving force behind “The Woodshed.” Lou-Ann,
the female protagonist, is prevented from going to work by her discovery
of a dead body in her woodshed. Stephanie, a neighbor, shows up with her
baby. The women’s 911 calls go unanswered (the police are occupied
with an out-of-control fire), so they phone the only neighbor who is
sure to be home. Old man McGregor drives over in his gold cart (his gout
has been acting up) and proceeds to poke the body with a stick,
reminding Lou-Ann of “a little boy finding a dead squirrel on the
road.” To the old man’s horror, Stephanie starts to breast-feed, an
activity that inspires her to ask her bemused companions: “Have you
ever drank urine?” The three characters are still at cross-purposes
when the (highly improbable) solution to their dilemma is arrived at.
Just as dizzying are the absurdities featured in the title story, in
which a man mistakes his neighbor’s tanning booth for a coffin, which
he suspects is being used in “some sort of voodoo ritual.”

Berry’s vision is oftentimes bleak, but her energetic and darkly
comic storytelling is such that these tales never depress.