If Pieces: A Collection of New Voices is a glimpse into
the future of fiction, we are teetering on the brink of literary
disaster.
Edited by Stephen Chbosky, author of The Perks of Being a
Wallflower, this book showcases the work of young writers (i.e.
the “authors of tomorrow,” according to the book jacket) who won a
short story contest piloted by MTV. Judging by the subject matter
that many of their stories share, some of these writers might watch
too much of this channel to begin with.
The only connection these stories have to Chbosky’s charming and
inventive Perks are the youthful and timely qualities of the
authors’ voices. Don’t expect the same level of quality and
competency throughout, even though Chbosky lends his words of
encouragement and a nod of approval for the introduction.
While there are several jewels in this collection, some of the
stories are so frivolous with their situational abuse of sexual
perversion and clinical depression that English majors will have to
suppress the impulse to lash out irrationally and adorn the most
blatant violators with big red Fs.
Exhibit A: “Mother” reads like a high school literary magazine
reject. A teenager struggles to cope with her mother’s nervous
breakdown that comes without a pretense, and as the story wears on,
it becomes apparent that “Mother” lacks substance for this
reason.
Exhibit B: “Pinball” presents yet another puzzling choice of
names. Did the author intend for Shereen to have Barbie bangs, a
bad dye job and claw-like acrylics? Considering the description of
her graceful beauty, maybe the writer should be more careful when
naming his children.
Other stories come as a welcome relief. Perhaps the book is
interspersed with bad stories to help the reader truly appreciate
the good ones.
“Polaroid,” for instance, presents a leaping point of view that
visits the minds of various tourists traversing the base of the
Eiffel Tower, which impales a gigantic red heart. As one
character’s husband dies of a heart attack on the stairs, a witness
doesn’t seem too interested in the ambulance or the commotion, and
human suffering comes into perspective. The author’s effective use
of an image that’s hard to misinterpret provides reassurance that
literature isn’t destined for ruin.
A teenaged girl of privileged birth reflects upon her childhood
in India, as an arranged marriage looms just days in front of her
in “Forbidden Fate,” a tale with an ending reminiscent of the final
chapter of Kate Chopin’s “The Awakening.” This author effectively
employs each of the senses, from the grandmother’s kitchen smelling
of curry to the icy cold of the pond where Savitri drowns her
sorrows, this time with an uncommon name that was purposefully
chosen.
Most of these stories translate from the page into the
imagination, while others fail to make this transition. Either way,
Pieces provides some light reading that will ring true in
the ears of readers whose lives resemble a modernized The
Catcher in the Rye. It doesn’t take the eye of a critic to
discern which of these stories miss the mark.
