Newsday - Male Tales
THE UNSETTLING, by Peter Rock.
MacAdam/Cage, 300 pp., $21.
With four novels already under his belt, Peter Rock has just published "The Unsettling," his first collection of stories. The book's title doesn't come from any of the stories, but instead conveys the author's preoccupation with stray events that disturb the flow of our lives. The 13 stories gathered here have two things in common: the majority of Rock's characters are lonely and the stories typically involve the sudden appearance of a stranger or ghost who dishevels their otherwise mundane lives.
It isn't always clear what impact this intrusion has. In some cases, it's fraught with danger. In "Stranger," when a couple is out camping and a woman shows up in their cabin in the middle of the night, demanding help, the interaction turns ominous. But in other instances, the appearance of a stranger is a more consoling presence.
In "The Silent Men," a waitress at a French restaurant is beset by two strange events. Two thin men who may be German show up at her restaurant every Friday evening and order wine and expensive meals, but never touch what they order and never speak. When the waitress' two dogs disappear, she suddenly begins receiving middle-of-the-night phone calls from a woman who has seen her missing dog posters and understands how lonely she is. Instead of alarming her, the presence of all these familiar strangers becomes reassuring. In many of these enigmatic stories about chance encounters, the stranger who shows up - in person or on the phone - is the secret sharer Rock has sent to look out for his solitary characters.
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MacAdam/Cage, 300 pp., $21.
With four novels already under his belt, Peter Rock has just published "The Unsettling," his first collection of stories. The book's title doesn't come from any of the stories, but instead conveys the author's preoccupation with stray events that disturb the flow of our lives. The 13 stories gathered here have two things in common: the majority of Rock's characters are lonely and the stories typically involve the sudden appearance of a stranger or ghost who dishevels their otherwise mundane lives.
It isn't always clear what impact this intrusion has. In some cases, it's fraught with danger. In "Stranger," when a couple is out camping and a woman shows up in their cabin in the middle of the night, demanding help, the interaction turns ominous. But in other instances, the appearance of a stranger is a more consoling presence.
In "The Silent Men," a waitress at a French restaurant is beset by two strange events. Two thin men who may be German show up at her restaurant every Friday evening and order wine and expensive meals, but never touch what they order and never speak. When the waitress' two dogs disappear, she suddenly begins receiving middle-of-the-night phone calls from a woman who has seen her missing dog posters and understands how lonely she is. Instead of alarming her, the presence of all these familiar strangers becomes reassuring. In many of these enigmatic stories about chance encounters, the stranger who shows up - in person or on the phone - is the secret sharer Rock has sent to look out for his solitary characters.
link
posted by Russ Campbell at 7:15 AM
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