Ms. Hen reviews Please: Fiction Inspired by The Smiths

 

Please: Fiction Inspired by The Smiths

Edited by Peter Wild

2009

Harper Perennial

Ms. Hen found this book by chance while she was reading book reviews online. She doesn't usually buy a book unless she knows it will be worth reading, but she took a chance on this because the premise sounded so enticing. She has been a fan of the Smiths for a long time, and they have even inspired some of her writing.

Most of this anthology is fantastic. Only one story is not, and that is, "Back to the Old House," which is written in a Scottish dialect, which Ms. Hen found excruciating to read. She doesn't know why a writer would want to torture their readers that much.

One of her favorite stories is, "I Won't Share You," about a family on holiday in a caravan, and something goes horribly wrong with the father's arm. Ms. Hen thinks this is charming and dark, which is a combination she loves.

Another story she adores is, "Oscillating Wildly," about a man who is dying, thinking about his life when he was young and the time he had gone to visit his uncle in France, who worked as the caretaker at the Pere Lachaise Cemetery, and possessed a piece of Oscar Wilde's grave. This reminded Ms. Hen of the time she went to Oscar Wilde's grave in that cemetery.

She found the story, "Girl Afraid," especially beautiful and poignant, since it reminded Ms. Hen of when she was a girl, but she thinks this character would have a much different life than she had.

Ms. Hen found these stories nostalgic for a time and place she has never known, if that's possible. This book contains stories of a world that does not exist anymore, and Ms. Hen is not sure if that's positive. The world used to be simpler, or it seemed to be when we were less connected. 

Looking back, Ms. Hen thinks that things were simple, but during that time, life seemed complicated. Not being in touch, and not able to find out everything, was a type of freedom people didn't realize they had. Record stores, and taping music off the radio, and waiting for a song you love to come on the radio, and loving music because you think a band is singing about you, are activities of the past that people of younger generations will never know. This anthology reminds Ms. Hen of her youth, but she would never want to be young again, and she's glad that will never happen.

Ms. Hen at Oscar Wilde's grave