The World to Come: Stories
When it comes to literary style, Jim Shepard breaks all the rules, yet this collection of short stories leaves the reader breathless and feeling like a firsthand witness to the most dramatic historical events.
Blending quoted and related dialog in what many copy editors might call run-on sentences, The World To Come leads us through a series of historic singularities, from an 18th– century balloon launch (“The Ocean of Air”) to the tragic death of courageous U.S. airmen on an offshore radar rig during a colossal storm (“Safety Tips for Living Alone”). Shepard’s voice is beautiful, reminiscent of Salinger. The stories are linked by themes of sometimes foolish individual courage in the face of chaotic and unreliable forces such as weather, technology, and the government.
The offerings span from the 18th century to the present. They are also permeated with a sensibility of what Cormac McCarthy termed “the dismal tide.” A young motorman on a doomed and rotting railway watches as his dangerous job devolves into a metaphor for his unravelling family life (“Positive Train Control”), and two isolated frontier housewives form an ethereal bond out of time in the collection’s title story.
Gorgeous writing. Be in the mood for a sad commentary, but Shepard’s latest offering is not to be missed.
