From the University of Iowa Press comes another winner of the
John Simmons Short Fiction Award; this time it’s Tell Everyone I Said Hi by Chad Simpson. For being a slim volume,
it has a wide variety of effects, in a wide variety of lengths and treatment.
Throughout, however, Mr. Simpson shows such insight into people’s mental
states, in the oblique way people react to strife, and the way they seek
company on their lonely journeys – even the snippets pack a wallop out of all
proportion to their length.
The collection, in fact, leads off with Miracle, a mere seven paragraphs long, including one of one
sentence. In it, a man responds to his addled brother’s phone call about an accident,
and cannot keep from laughing, although at night, he dreams the worst. In a
very few short, matter-of-fact sentences, Mr. Simpson sets the tone for this collection:
harrowed, highly personal, thought-provoking, and even uplifting. In Potential an exceptional young athlete stares
millions of dollars in the face, as he tries to get past his conflict about
being the first overall draft choice and moving on to the next phase of his
life. In this story, we get a glimpse of the closeness between the son and his
father who never pressured him on the field of play. It is a touching, superb
piece. Let x rises very nearly to
poetry, even though its subject includes thoughtless deeds by junior
high-schoolers, deeds which change two young lives.
In this collection, people work momentously to fend for
themselves, usually because of some mistake or unavoidable tendency which drove
loved ones off. There are two stories that reprise one set of characters. Eponymous
Peloma is twelve years old in the first one, over six feet tall, orange-haired,
and heavy. She and her dad try to muddle through respective challenges in the
wake of the mother/wife’s fatal auto accident. Peloma tries half-heartedly a couple
of times to kill herself, but her father, telling the stories in the first
person, finds the path they can travel together. The first story leaves us on a
cliffhanger, almost literally. The second story with these characters concludes
the collection. In it, Dad chides himself when he hears of Peloma’s almost
disastrous first day of driving at driver’s ed. He acknowledges that he should
have given Peloma some practice behind the wheel, and so takes her out. The
final sequence of their experience together in his pickup truck forms a lovely
climax to this sometimes haunting collection. It’s worth the price of admission
by itself.
This is a remarkable, distinctive collection, and proves
what the folks in Iowa City know so well: short fiction is in exceedingly
capable hands. Kudos once again on this selection for the prize!
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