Trailer Girl And Other Stories, by Terese Svoboda, consists
of the novella "Trailer Girl," followed by a series
of unrelated, vignette-like short stories. "Trailer Girl,"
the novella that gives the volume its title, is a story of child
abuse and murder. In the short stories that follow, Svoboda provides
us with a series of snapshots depicting a dark and abysmal existence
of humanity. Frequently portrayed through the viewpoint of a child
or young woman, she paints several portraits of disparate lives.
This is a collection of stories that is about as exciting to read
as attending extended Easter Sunday Mass at a Catholic church
with a tone-deaf choir. There is little or no redeeming quality
whatsoever in her stories. It appears that she is merely presenting
the morbid and macabre to us only for its own sake. The story
"White" is about a grandfather talking to his grandson
about how family is like chicken parts. "Car Frogs"
is about a mother and son camping out, sleeping in a car. "Lost
the Baby" is about a partying couple that can’t remember
who they left their baby with for the evening. Svoboda’s main
characters are from disadvantaged backgrounds, and most of them
demonstrate the quality of having suffered from some form of abuse
and/or neglect. Most of the stories are written in the third person.
In addition, the characters’ lack of insight provides the reader
with a very limited point of view. At times, the narration becomes
kaleidoscopic and obscure. Often, the imagery feels contrived,
with similes such as, "The sky is going all slatey like in
a painting people say is important." running rampant throughout.
None of her stories appear to approach any sort of truth about
the human condition; they just simply exist without any resolution.
Granted, not all stories need to end neatly, all tied up in a
bow, but without some sort of movement towards conflict and resolution,
a written piece of work remains in the realm of the anecdotal,
and doesn’t become fully realized into a story. What Svoboda has
provided here is a series of anecdotes, and miserable ones at
that.

© 2002 Libby Fabricatore

Libby Fabricatore lives
on Long Island, NY. She spends her time struggling to find her
identity and skeptically examining the expectations placed on
her by society. She currently bartends in order to fund her ever-increasing
habit of going to U2 concerts.

Categories: Fiction