Skip to main content

A Question for Existence: a review of Stranger Will by Caleb J. Ross

"Reading Stranger Will" ©2011 Kristin Fouquet

Having loved Ross’ collection of short stories, Charactered Pieces, I greatly anticipated reading his first novel. I was not disappointed. Again, he takes the reader out of his or her comfort zone. The theme of this book reminded me of a strange incident.

In the fall of 2003, I was seven months pregnant with my first child when I visited San Francisco for the fourth time. In the previous three trips, I noticed the homeless population, but didn’t dwell too long on the issue as I live in a city with a similar problem. However, this time, I became acutely aware of a deep hatred by many of the homeless for pregnant women and parents in general. I was verbally harassed by a couple of homeless men and given a roundhouse kick to the shin by a homeless woman. I was among the despised, a group many called “breeders.”

This prompted many thoughts for me about cruelty and a desire to end a species. I thought of pregnant victims like Sharon Tate, her hands desperately covering her abdomen and begging the stabbers not to hurt her baby, and Laci Peterson with her husband as her murderer. I read an article of a pregnant woman in San Francisco who was followed by a homeless man and beaten in her apartment. He then covered her in red paint. Fortunately, her husband found her in time to save both mother and baby with an emergency delivery. While some people regarded me as an appealing example of motherhood, I now knew I was also regarded as a repulsive agent in continuing an already burdening overpopulation. I tried to understand this latter concept, but I was incapable. I could not think of my unborn daughter as a drain on resources; I had already bonded with her. I loved her.

This memory resonated throughout my reading of Stranger Will. The protagonist, William Lowson, an impending father, makes no secret of his extremely serious doubts about bringing a child into this world. Fortunately for him, he meets kindred spirits who share his ideology. Yet, like many great characters in literature, William grows and even displays a glimpse of paternal nature for a child, Eugene. Even in all his darkness, I hoped for William to escape the existential nightmare of Ross’ city of Brackenwood. I wanted to believe there was a city beyond it, free of the absolute cruelty in pursuit of perfection. Then, I remembered San Francisco. In fear, I thought about the potentiality of that segment of the homeless population if organized and resourceful enough to take their ideology to an elevated level. I thought about all the vulnerable pregnant women and the doubts of their maternal abilities. We are not too far removed from the world Ross has created in Stranger Will.

With ease, Ross seems to dare you to turn the page. Chapter Eighteen is gut-wrenching. It reminded me of footage of Shias parading while flogging themselves. The children used soft, harmless cat-o-nine tails to emulate the self-flagellation they would later truly and painfully enact in their maturity. Ross is not so gentle with his children characters demonstrating their faith nor does he coddle his readers. His writing is fearless. The courageous reader will not be dissatisfied.

I welcome the author to my humble blog, Le Salon Annex, on his extensive blog book tour, “Stranger Will Tour for Strange,” on October 26, 2011. Find out more about Stranger Will here.


Comments

  1. absolutely frightening San Francisco experience.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Perpetual Poetry: Words Inspiring Words, a review

"Reading Karen Lillis" copyright 2014 Kristin Fouquet Perpetual Poetry: Words Inspiring Words a review of The Paul Simon Project by Karen Lillis I have a confession to make. I am not a poet.  I write fiction and I believe writing poetry is a completely different process.  I love reading good poetry, but I am in no way a poetry scholar.  These are the reasons I usually do not review poetry chapbooks.  The Paul Simon Project by Karen Lillis is only my second exception to this rule. Influenced by Simon’s words and music on the album Still Crazy After All These Years ,  Lillis duplicates the song titles for her poems in this collection. Some follow a similar  path as the subject of the song; others venture in their own direction. The album’s title song inspires a poem which mimics the melancholy and  sentimentality of the original. Yet, she pumps it up with a contemporary  edginess and gender reversal. In “My Little Town,” Simon sings,

You Were Perfectly Fine by Dorothy Parker

"Martini" kristin fouquet This is my favorite hangover story. A raise of the glass to the inimitable Dorothy Parker. You Were Perfectly Fine by Dorothy Parker The pale young man eased himself carefully into the low chair, and rolled his head to the side, so that the cool chintz comforted his cheek and temple. “Oh, dear,” he said.”Oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear. Oh.” The clear-eyed girl, sitting light and erect on the couch, smiled brightly at him. “Not feeling so well today?” she said. “Oh, I’m great,” he said.”Corking, I am. Know what time I got up? Four o’clock this afternoon, sharp. I kept trying to make it, and every time I took my head off the pillow, it would roll under the bed. This isn’t my head I’ve got on now. I think this is something that used to belong to Walt Whitman. Oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear.” “Do you think maybe a drink would make you feel better?” she said. “The hair of the mastiff that bit me?” he said.”Oh, no,

Photographs in Exist Otherwise, Issue #6

  “Masks are made of different kinds of material: cardboard, velvet, flesh, the Word. The carnal mask and the verbal mask are worn in all seasons. “                                               - Claude Cahun Happy Bastille Day! It was on another French Holiday, Mardi Gras, in 2022, I used my old Kodak Brownie film camera to capture the festivities. I'm delighted to have three of those photographs, "Mardi Gras Birdman," Mardi Gras Flock," and "Mardi Gras Toast" published in Exist Otherwise, Issue #6 with the theme of Masks.  Many Thanks to editor, cc bovarysme!