Stuart Dybek, “Breasts”
A hitman keeps running into old girlfriends every time he’s about to kill a crooked bookie.
(from The Best American Short Stories, 2004)
This one has it all: guns, mafia, sex, drugs, horse racing, a masked wrestler, carrier pigeons and a perfect, if smoky, ending. Not actual smoke.
This was a long one (43 pages); totally worth the time. The action was fast and the sensory stimulation so strong, I couldn’t help but re-imagine this as a kickass cult-hit kinda movie. With a different title, of course.
For some reason this story also reinvigorated my faith in the Best American series. I mean, what’s this mob story doing in the same neighborhood as Alice Munro and John Updike? Of course, that’s just my unfounded misconception; this series is by no means snobby. It’s just that “Breasts” is such a “genre” story, seemingly more comfortable in a certain chamber alongside other astonishing stories.
posted by Patrick Rapa @ 11:59 PM
1 Comments:
I agree -- "Breasts" is a swift, strong, engaging read. A guilty pleasure. But I have a theory about it. I think Dybek set out to write a novel -- one that would, finally, bring him some money (especially if it was made into a movie). That would be the reason it was so long and why it doesn't really end -- it just stops.
Obviously, he abandoned the novel idea. Why? Maybe he had created too many unresolvable issues.
What do you think of this theory?
pb
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