Goodreads turned me towards a couple collections of short stories by Gary Lutz: Partial List of People to Bleach and Stories in the Worst Way. Both *books had me thinking why don't we hear more of Mr. Lutz? I am reviewing these books together, because they are the pretty much the same... plus Partial List of People to Bleach is only 56 pages long, so it doesn't really meet my "legal" standards for a book!
I honestly have to say the stories are really about nothing. I know that must come of as... okay, why would I want to read this, but what I mean is that the stories are just about simple life events or encounters. They're easy to relate. Though I was never a professor, or fired from a job, or married three times, each story is elegantly detailed, you become the story.
All of the stories have a similar tone and voice, even when the point of view switches sexes. I'm not sure if this is a good or bad thing. It helped cohesively carry one story to the next, but it was a little startling when half-way through a story I realize the point of view was actually a woman the whole time. It's kind of a startling and unexpected. It makes me think "oh wait... did I miss something?"
The writing is amazing - authentic/genuine; not at all thesaurus-groping, as I was expecting, but I'm sure there are readers who think just the opposite. Also I think some people may be rubbed with the word "pretentious", so no... maybe not for everyone. But you have to admit, the man has a way with text! 4/5 Stars.
*I should say "books" because Partial List of People to Bleach is classified as a pamphlet, since it's a 56 page collection of indie-published stories. Except for the official ISBN, it comes off as a home-printed, home-staple bound paper draft. The Graphic Designer in me is really impressed by the 56 page single signature! I refuse to fold & staple bind more than 8/16 pages together, for fear of making the book edges and margins awkward.
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