Title: Deadheading and Other Stories
Author: Beth Gilstrap
Rating: 2.75 stars / 5 stars
Favorite Quote: “I like paying attention to places on a body most people take for granted. A smear of my lipstick (color, Medieval) true to its claim, everlasting on his Adam’s apple - that sweet hunk of thyroid cartilage named for sin.” Gilstrap, Beth. “Bone Words.” Deadheading and Other Stories, Red Hen Press. 2021. Kindle ed.
Review: Thank you to the publisher, Red Hen Press, and the Edelweiss platform for the free e-ARC that I received in exchange for an honest review.
Grief. Art. Violence - both interpersonal and the violence of poverty. These seem to be the primary themes of Deadheading and Other Stories - a collection of short stories that explores the lives of characters living in Appalachian America.
I was perhaps not the target audience for this book, given my less-than-stellar track record with enjoying and appreciating the artistry of short story collections. But I wanted to give it a try. And there were definitely parts of this book that I do recognize the artistry and the mastery of, so I want to explore those first, before I get into my criticisms.
One aspect of this book that I absolutely loved, and one that I didn’t notice until later in the book, is its exploration of the interactions between grief and art. Many of the stories, especially towards the end, show characters coping with grief - some identified, some not - through art. A woman who decorates her outdoor space with yarn. Another who creates images in the grass in the aftermath of a car accident that killed her sister and robbed her of vision in one eye. And these stories don’t seem to be saying something so bland or surface level as “art can heal'' or anything around those lines (although don’t get me wrong - I’ve definitely used creativity as a tool for healing after periods of grief and mourning). Instead, these moments seem to suggest something deeper, perhaps something even primordial - that the act of creation, the act of making, especially in ways that are outside the social norm, can be a vessel for exploring that grief - for sinking into that grief, and for acknowledging that pain and all that comes with it - instead of just ignoring it or ignoring the uncomfortable truths that accompany it.
It’s also clear from this collection that Gilstrap has an incredible mastery of the English language and how to use it to evoke imagery and emotion in her readers. And y’all know that something being well-written is usually a way to my heart.
Ultimately, my criticism of this book comes down to two main points.
The first, and one that may just be rooted in my discomfort of the form, is that none of the stories seemed to be paced just right. There are stories that are barely a page, if that, and I found those jarring - having to sink into a story at its beginning only to be wrenched out of its world paragraphs later. In these stories, in particular, there didn’t seem to be enough space for character development. There just wasn’t enough.
My second criticism rests with the titular story, and the final story in the collection. “Deadheading” follows the aftermath of the story before it, when Layla meets and is later traumatized by, and ultimately abandoned by, her emotionally abusive (and possibly criminal?) husband. In the second story of this short saga, Layla moves to the woods where her only neighbors are a mother and her two young children. SPOILERS AHEAD!!! Ultimately, the reader discovers, just as Layla does, that her neighbor is abusing her children when Layla sees her threatening to harm, and ultimately killing, one of them.
The plot of this story, up until that point, is not where my criticism lies. Like many of her stories, I think Gilstrap makes astute observations throughout this story - such as “People wonder how anyone can stand by while abuse happens. Those people have never been abused.” My criticism is in what happens next - Layla phones the police before she exits her home to confront the neighbor, but then after one of the daughters and the neighbor herself are killed, Layla just takes the other girl inside her home, helps her clean up, and then offers to help her wash her dead sisters hair before they begin the process of burying her - all without any mention of the authorities arriving or dealing with the aftermath.
This ending seemed so at odds with reality and what would actually happen in this type of situation, that it really pulled me out of the story. So much of this book explored the quirks and eccentricities of its characters, but it was only in this last story, where readers really seemed to be asked to suspend their disbelief. After a whole collection that seemed to be asking readers to explore and believe the realities of neglected, poor areas in Appalachia, to take this kind of jarring turn at the end just didn’t quite seem to fit.
About that Quote: When I mention Gilstrap’s mastery of the English language, it's quotes like this that really demonstrate what I mean. A few of these stories truly do seek to explore gendered violence and to describe a part of a man’s body as being “cartilage named for sin” (even at a time where the man in question doesn’t appear to be exhibiting any external signs of violence) just speaks to that theme. Even though this particular boy is “too sweet for fighting” - his body still holds that potential for sin - that potential for violence or evil, just as many of the other men in Gilstrap’s stories hold. (I should note here that the last story also shows the violence women are capable of, but much of Gilstrap's explorations of male violence appear to center on physicality, and this particular description lends itself to that.)
TRIGGER WARNINGS: violence against animals, ab*se, death of a child, violence against children
Have you read Deadheading and Other Stories? Share your thoughts below!
Comments