If I were to describe Gasparini’s stories as single narrative, I would
say that a boy, abandoned by his father at an early age, and locked into a
reluctant dependence on his mother, grows into an insecure adult with a string
of failed or failing relationships. He is given to unlikely and unsatisfying
sexual fantasies, and preoccupied with the macabre. The hero of this narrative
is imaginative, with a fascination for words, particularly those from foreign
languages, and with the names of artists and writers. The result is an inside
look into the life of a misfit, someone whose idiosyncrasies make for a
miserable life, but one with holds a fascination for others, drawn as we are to
the unusual and the bizarre.

The fourteen stories in this collection give us a range of insights into
its central character. The quality is variable, with some lovely poetic
writing, but with a number of stories that are overtold, and some that meander
to unsatisfying endings. In the first story ‘A boy and his cat’, a mother
struggles to discipline her young son, who is bent on inflicting pain on his
adopted cat. The ending of this story is chilling, and sets up a mood that
suffuses much of the book.

There are stories about growing up; sexual exploration and peer group
violence. These are gritty, realistic stories with a cast of characters that
could easily move from one story to another. The cover notes compare ‘I bet I
can scare you’ to the suspense of Hitchcock, but I found the suspense
undermined by Gasparini’s tendency to overtell. ‘Cross of flesh’ explores a
schoolboy’s experience of sexual abuse. The story is believable, even tense at
times, and there are some nice descriptive passages. However, Gasparini
dissipates the tension at the end of the story by stating the reader’s expected
response. ‘Facts of life’ is a story set in a school classroom. Gasparini sets
the scene for something to happen, but the story ends suddenly as if the lunch
bell rings just as the teacher turns the last page.

In the shorter pieces Gasparini evokes compelling images with economy
and power. ‘An Arabian day’s experience is a brief meditation on eating dates.
Like an entrée at dinner, it whets your appetite and leaves you wanting more.
‘The valentine’ is a story fragment, but still a story in itself. It provides a
vivid slice of life. ‘Sign language’ takes a chance encounter on a train as the
starting point for reflection on deceit and dishonesty. It’s a nice vignette,
although I felt s little spoilt by changes in tense.

In the stories with adult characters, the male protagonists are insecure
and preoccupied with pornography and opportunistic sexual liaisons. This finds
its apotheosis in ‘Amy Crissum’, a story of a doomed relationship between a
tattoo artist and his barfly amour. When the relationship inevitably falters
each turns to the qualities that brought them together for solace. For Amy this
is a new sexual adventure; for Marc a creative and vengeful application of his
skill as a tattooist.

The standout story in this collection is ‘Wild pitch’. This story reads
like a memoir. It is immediate and fresh, and avoids the gratuitous events and
language of many of the other stories. A 56-year-old poet has a hankering to
recapture his youth as a baseball pitcher. He can’t pitch, but he is
persistent, fighting injury and his own poor performance. In the end he
achieves a victory of sorts, even an equanimity, that the reader enjoys
vicariously.

Overall, an uneven collection, but one that is not without its charms.
The collection is worth reading for its highlights, even if, like me, you find
it frustrating that this standard is not consistently applied.

© 2004 Tony O’Brien

Tony O’Brien M Phil., Lecturer, Mental Health Nursing, University of Auckland

Categories: Fiction