I finally finished reading the other things I was going to read before I reviewed this book. I wanted to give it a fresh read before I reviewed it. Yes: so nice, I read it twice. I don’t think this will be a very detailed review. I am beginning to realize that I am not cut out for any role in the literary world. I can’t edit a magazine for shit, I can’t write for shit, I am hardly literate most days, and I certainly am incapable of reviewing books. This notwithstanding, I did read this book. I do feel it is a book worth promoting.
These stories have a running theme of New Jersey youth. Glory Days ala Bruce Springsteen-ey. Speaking of, in her bio on the back cover, Corley “doesn’t know Bruce Springsteen.”
No, of course you don’t. These are stories which even Bruce Springsteen wouldn’t want to tell. Mostly gritty and realist: the kind of stories I love. Corley flexes some real descriptive power with phrases like “wandering kings of Bohemia” and “eyes that were holy and were mine.” Both these come from the story “Persons of Bondage.”
Then there was the line from which the title was drawn:
The kid kicks fresh white puffs of dandelions across pretty green lawns–his little contribution to the suburban swindle.
Many of her stories seem to lament the plight of young men in her growing up. Lost boys and demented violent boys. Boys, boys, boys.
Another worthy passage (from “Catfish Boys”):
Maybe it’s the midnight shuffle we carry in us, thick and slow, or the fading waitresses and their bitter glory, but spirits melt into diner walls just as strong as they do into graveyard soil.
Yes, The Suburban Swindle is full of the stories of street punks and noir beauties–probably the stuff of real New Jersey, not the New Jersey I’ve seen on television. I don’t know. I just know that I liked the way she painted her youthful characters and did this without apology. The best story, in my opinion, was called At The Slaughter. It was about this punk rocker girl and her uptight friend, and then the point of view shifts and we’re seeing this girl and her snobby friend from a guy’s point of view. And this guy gets comfort from the snobby girl, who comes across as hot in the prose. So yeah, that’s all I got.
