1 Jonathan Messinger Photo from MySpace
Nervous manhood, in cute, fun-sized pieces
Jonathan Messinger’s debut collection of short stories holds promising, if not fully functional, coming-of-age sentiment
By Adam Schragin
Published: November 29th, 2007 | 2:00pm
Jonathan Messinger’s first collection of short stories tackles issues that have led one of his friends to describe the book as being “about nervous manhood in a good, non–Zach Braff kind of way.” This is only true to an extent, at least the part about “nervous manhood.” Hiding Out
Messinger, who works as Time Out Chicago’s book reviews editor, makes an attempt at gravitas by setting stories pathos-rich places like a hospital, or in two cases, the afterworld. He often overshoots his target. Two of the book’s centerpiece stories, “One Valve Opens,” about a high-school slam poet named Julius, and “The Birds Below,” an examination of growing pains, are cluttered with unfocused plot lines that unravel in 10 directions at once. “One Valve Opens” is about the transformation of Julius from a girl-baiting poet to one with a greater sense of social consciousness, but the process and end result are so murky as to be annoyingly frustrating. “The Birds Below” aims for a big, Ice Storm hunk of juicy juvenile sexual mores, but the story becomes so convoluted with characters and events so absurd as to be unbelievable, we’re left wondering what to do with all of the pieces that don’t fit.
Expository exercises such as “Not Even the Zookeeper Can Keep Control” are also underwhelming, and it’s only when he tempers his ambition — as on those aforementioned afterlife stories — that Messigner really hits his mark, transmitting equal parts loss and desire the way the pros do.
“Bicycle Kick” is the first in the collection to really nail this formula. It’s a story of a reluctant soccer player who learns, after visiting the hospital for a slight concussion, that he has twin aneurysms — “It looks like two snakes swallowed rabbits then crawled inside your head,” his unhelpful doctor says. The victim’s mixed feelings about learning his condition, and his confrontation with the bronzed soccer player whose kick sent him to the hospital in the first place, make this story one of Messinger’s best. “Christmas Spirit” is about a rogue angel using theft to unsuccessfully change the path of a single father, and also rings true, and “Scream in the Dark” is a beautiful piece that examines death from a unique angle and ends the collection on a high note.
The good in Hiding Out is weighed down by a few missed opportunities and false starts, which makes it a respectable work that likely won’t permanently lodge itself into your frontal lobe. Still, Messinger — and the Featherproof press he co-founded from which this collection is released — are both promising.
—
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Hiding Out
By Jonathan Messinger
192 pages
List Price: $13.95
Issue #35
Comments
Please login to be able to comment on this article.
more