This book is a collection of stories. I spoke to him about it and he explained that it can take him years to write some stories. He told me one of the stories in this book took him 30 years to complete. He provided a pithy explanation of his process: “I write to figure out what I am writing about.”
It becomes apparent each story was chosen with great care. In “Everyone Knows” the opening one, we meet a boy who is trying to comprehend his parents. His father is a writer and he seems to be working out some of his issues in his writing. His mother is dealing with the strains in their marriage by self-medicating with wine.
Wilbur is an exacting stylist, he offers us open spaces-to fill in as we desire. Surely we question what is happening, what is this fictional writer showing his son while they drive the country roads together? What is he looking for? What is troubling him? Why do some families channel idiosyncrasies across generations?
These stories are linked yet they are mostly quite different. “Something Changed” is a ghost story. A young boy accompanies his mother to a house jammed with antiques. While his mom chats with the owner the boy explores the place and encounters a spirit only he can see.
My favorite story is “The Lost Brother.” This dark tale appealed to my noir sensibilities; it has a definite Hitchcockian vibe. The main character is a guy who delights in screwing up the lives of other people. That seems to be all that he does and the pleasure he derives from it is appalling. He doesn’t care about anybody but himself. The ending is most satisfactory.
The shortest story in the collection is “Home in the Rain.” This is the one that took him 30 years to finish. The main character resembles the disgusting protagonist in “The Lost Brother.” When you get to the ending of the story you’ll be astonished by what happened although Wilbur never actually tells us, or you will be baffled. If you get confused, well, I suppose we probably cannot help you.
Vick Mickunas of Yellow Springs interviews authors 7 a.m. every Saturday and 10:30 a.m. Sundays on WYSO-FM (91.3). For more information, visit wyso.org/programs/book-nook. Contact him at vick@vickmickunas.com.
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