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Tooth and Claw by
T. C. Boyle
(Review: October 2005) If you’ve
ever read any of T. C. Boyle’s work in the New Yorker (Chicxulub
or the titular, Tooth and Claw) or any other literary
periodical over the past few years, and been enraptured, then Tooth and
Claw is for you. The stories unfold on the coastal peripheries of the
United States, and while most take place in a contemporary setting, The
Doubtfulness of Water chronicles a madam’s treacherous journey from
Boston to New Haven and New York in 1770 to settle the affairs of a fellow
widow, and Chicxulub, in part, revolves around the titled
meteor that wiped out the dinosaurs in the Cretaceous—but that’s just a
subplot to a more current weave of tragedy. All the stories revolve around
people in transition, between jobs, the selling of family property, an
unexpected death and searching for romance. The situations are piquant and
palpable. Take The Swift Passage of the Animals about a nascent
couple lost in a snowstorm in the Sierras. It’s the male’s hubris that lands
them in the situation and in the face of dropping temperature and falling
snow, the limits of their relationship are quickly tested. Jubilation
places a lost soul in an exclusive condo community in Florida where
everything is run like a Disney theme park and nothing is as bright and shiny
on the inside as its waxed exterior implies. And Dogology tells
of a suburban housewife running with a pack of dogs. Of course the gem of the
collection is Tooth and Claw, where a half employed,
love-starved sod wins (more like losing) a wild cat (an African serval) in
bar contest. All the tales are pointed and penned in the way that only Boyle
can. He’s a gifted writer, though at times, lingers far too long on the
details of the surroundings than the inner workings of the character at hand.
That’s the only knock. The stories are all easy to read, yet poetic enough to
provoke without being flowery. The only real disappointment is that if you’ve
followed Boyle through the Lit rags, there might not be anything new to amaze
you. - TBM |
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