The Freak Chronicles

by Jennifer Spiegel

An American missionary sleeps on the dung floor in a witch doctor's hut in South Africa. Two women contemplate "poverty porn" while trying to start a nonprofit in China. An heiress locks eyes with a whore on the streets of Cape Town. A college girl stalks Mickey Rourke. A professor from New Jersey gets scammed in Old Havana before Castro's demise. A mom obsesses about the fate of Sesame Street characters. A study abroad student goes home with a Russian street artist. Backpackers question their global idealism. Terrain, both ordinary and extraordinary, work on the imaginations and perceptions of people on the run, freaks in the making, eccentrics by choice.

The short stories in this collection explore, both implicitly and explicitly, the notion of freakiness. They worry over eccentricity, alienation, normalcy, and intimacy. What is it that makes one a freak, makes one want to embrace quirkiness, have the fortitude to cultivate oddity? Is there a fine line between abnormality and the extraordinary? Jennifer Spiegel's stories delve into these questions and others.

Genres: Short Stories

225 pages, Paperback

First published June 12, 2012

About the author

Jennifer Spiegel has an MA in Politics from New York University, and an MFA in Creative Writing (Fiction) from Arizona State. She teaches college classes and writes. She is the author of four books: THE FREAK CHRONICLES (Dzanc Books), LOVE SLAVE (Unbridled Books), AND SO WE DIE, HAVING FIRST SLEPT (originally Five Oaks Press, reprinted by Bosco's Going Down Press), and CANCER, I'LL GIVE YOU ONE YEAR: A NON-INFORMATIVE GUIDE TO BREAST CANCER, A WRITER'S MEMOIR IN ALMOST REAL-TIME (Wipf and Stock). Spiegel’s 5th book, KIDS WITHOUT HORSES is forthcoming. Spiegel is also half of the book-reviewing team, Snotty Literati. She lives with her husband and two kids in Arizona. Please visit her at www.jenniferspiegel.com.

Sign up for her newsletter here (upper lefthand corner): https://mailchi.mp/798144a5da7e/jenni...

Something more lively:

Jennifer Spiegel is a fiction writer and English professor who never got over her first reading of THE CATCHER IN THE RYE or that time when she first saw the film version of THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING. She wishes she could go on an African safari or a trip to Turkey or even spend a little time in Manhattan soon, but it's more likely she'll be feeding the cats or grading the papers. But, seriously, what a great thing it is to be a real writer!

Reviews

[Brent · Rating 5 out of 5]

The characters in these stories struggle to find basic connections although the world doesn't stop to give them time to think. Some of them are alienated in every way, placed in strange countries, surrounded by unfamiliar cultures, with guides as out of place as they are. Even those on familiar ground feel out of place. Time passes and people lose touch. Sometimes something as seemingly slight as a fascination with Mickey Rourke is enough to taint a relationship, while other times, two people with nothing in common can endure due to a belief in commitment. Spiegel frequently returns to the question of "what is enough." With everything that is wrong in the world, (and all the lost people) does it make a difference to "send five girls to school and there are five thousand others who stay home..." as the characters in the story "ZigZag Bridge" ask themselves. Is it only sensible if "good" wins in the end? I'd like to know. It's a pleasure to follow along as these people try work it all out, or at the very least find a way to live with it.

[Jill Moore · Rating 4 out of 5]

What does it mean to be a freak? More specifically, what does it mean to be a woman, a citizen of the world, a mother, a daughter, a wife, a lover, someone who wants to make the world a better place? What does it mean to be normal and is that really the life you want to lead?

I sometimes have a hard time with collections of short stories because I don't feel I have time to become invested in the characters or plots. By the story Zigzag Bridge (third in the collection), I was all in. I had fallen into the rhythm of Spiegel's sublime writing and each lead character was a woman I could identify with -- all strong, intelligent, flawed, real human females.

My favorites were The Freak Chronicles (the title story), Zigzag Bridge, and Missing Northern. I think these three resonated with me the most because I felt a kindred spirit with each of the main characters in them.

Spiegel's writing is full of wit, wanderlust, regular lust, questioning, longing, regret, and understanding. She validated my freakiness and took me by the hand into the worlds of fellow freaks, one lovely page at a time.

And Jennifer, I am in awe of you. I know that writing and being published are two very different things. You've done both extremely well. Kudos my dear! 4 1/2 <3 s from me.

[Virginia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a terrific collection of stories that take place in exotic settings with restless and memorable characters. I enjoyed the way Jennifer Spiegel weaves a political conscience into fully realized fictional tales. Her characters find themselves in strange places. They are denizens and ex-pats and generally people searching for something, mostly themselves. I especially loved the stories "Glasnost" and "Good bye, Madagascar," but all of these pieces of short fiction fulfilled their promise. This is a hip and tight collection that offers a seriously good read.

[Lavinia Ludlow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review in American Book Review: http://muse.jhu.edu/login?auth=0&...


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