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This collection of 16 short stories is another gigantic WIN for author, genre, and reader — once again I attest that Faber’s talent is unspeakably delectable.
From the front flap: “These sixteen stories depict individuals at turning points in their lives, moments that are often uncanny but always profoundly human. Whether his story features a taxidermist who ends up making an exhibit of himself, a group of sex-crazed executives in Indonesia, or a dictator holding a surgeon’s family hostage to the outcome of a risky operation, Faber creates his characters with exquisite empathy. The terminally alienated live out their lives in “The Safehouse,” forsaking all contact with the outside world, their stories and diagnoses written like endless ads on their T-shirts. In “The Eyes of the Soul,” a woman purchases perpetual televised beauty to replace the derelict view from her suburban picture window. In the title story, a man experiences a distilled moment of perfect happiness with his rebellious teenage son.”
Obviously I find it criminal that this jacket is supposed to sell Faber’s work, but just as obvious is the impossibility of capturing this man’s brilliance in a 4 x 7″ column of text. So while I forgive the jacket-writer, I will supplement his work with an exerpt from a completely random page:
After a minute or two, the young man removed a ballpoint pen from the breat pocket of Gala’s jacket. he clicked the nib in and out, frowning, as if feeling himself required to make a complicated moral decision. Gala Sampras smiled despite herself, troubling the young man even more. It seemed so absurd that she’d been brought all the way here to slice the dictator’s chest open with a scalpel, but here were his bodyguards trying to make sure she didn’t stab him through the heart with a cheap plastic pen.
“Mightier than the sword, hm?” she mocked him as he handed the yellow Bic back.
~ pp. 83, from “Finesse”
The Summer of Faber continues! Your thoughts??
