The Incurables

by Mark Brazaitis

In his latest collection of literary fiction, Mark Brazaitis evokes with sympathy, insight, and humor the lives of characters in a small Ohio town. The ten short stories of The Incurables limn the mental landscape of people facing conditions they believe are insolvable, from the oppressive horrors of mental illness to the beguiling and baffling complexities of romantic and familial love. In the book’s opening story, “The Bridge,” a new sheriff must confront a suicide epidemic as well as his own deteriorating mental health. In “Classmates,” a man sets off to visit the wife of a classmate who has killed himself. Is he hoping to write a story about his classmate or to observe the aftermath of what his own suicide attempt, if successful, would have been like? In the title story, a down-on-his-luck porn actor returns to his hometown and winds up in the mental health ward of the local hospital, where he meets a captivating woman. Other stories in the collection include “A Map of the Forbidden,” about a straight-laced man who is tempted to cheat on his wife after his adulterous father dies, and “The Boy behind the Tree,” about a problematic father-son relationship made more so by the arrival on the scene of a young man the son’s age. In “I Return,” a father narrates a story from the afterlife, discovering as he does so that he is not as indispensable to his family as he had believed.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

233 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

Reviews

[Susi · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this deep and introspective collection of stories, Brazaitis' varied cast of characters manifests symptoms of varying degrees of madness. The most provocative stories feature characters standing on the cusp of madness. In “The Bridge,” a town’s new sheriff, who is doing everything he can to stop an epidemic of jumpers from the town’s bridge, nonetheless considers joining them. The narrator of “The Boy behind the Tree,” wonders if his mind conjured up a living, breathing boy who joined his golf games with his father. And in “A Map of the Forbidden,” a married man who has always resisted replicating his father’s philandering ways finds himself, after his father’s funeral, unable to heed his reasonable self and stop himself from embarking on an affair.

The ten stories are not just linked thematically by varying shades of madness. Like Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio, they are also linked by a town in Ohio--in this case, the town of Sherman--where all the characters live. Like Anderson, Brazaitis uses plain-spoken prose and focuses on the psychological insights of his characters. He also injects a welcome sense of dry humor that lightens some of the heavy material.

In addition to being linked by theme and setting, the stories are also loosely linked by its characters, as the main characters of some of the stories make cameo appearances in others. These subtle connections serve to make the cast of characters feel smaller and more intertwined than it may appear at first read. As a result, we as readers feel all the more connected to the residents of Sherman as they struggle to overcome the loneliness and isolation that permeates their town.

For my full review click here: http://peacecorpsworldwide.org/pc-wri...

[Suraj Alva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow! I used to think that books published in the last 10 years which had a low no. of ratings on here (which I assumed meant only a few people read it) were no good. It almost always proved true. There were a few exceptions, of course. And this was a big one.

I am almost appalled that this book of short stories has not reached a wider audience. This guy is 'effin brilliant. His stories are laugh-out loud funny, insightful, touching and unforgettable.

And I should know. I read like there's no tomorrow.

[Russell Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mark Brazaitis is the director of the Creative Writing Program at West Virginia University. Therefore, this collection of short stories, based around the town of Sherman, Ohio, tend to read like exercises to show the students of said University how to structure and explore the medium.

Brazaitis stories tend to be bitter-sweet, with a dash of pathos. None of the stories portrays this more than the title one. This revolves around an ex-porn star who finds that, not only does he have Herpes,that he is also impotent. This fact, and the emptiness he feels after his chosen career, and shallow relationships, sleep walks him towards an attempted suicide. However, he is stopped from throwing himself off the local bridge and committed to a psychiatric ward, where he strikes up a friendship with a young female inmate. Erica is a character that is a vibrant force of nature combined with a desperate drive to escape from her own life. Sounds like this can only end in tragedy, and it almost does. However, not before some very amusing and cleverly written dialogue.

This is Brazaitis at his best, and some of the tales here almost gain this level of depth. However, there are also tales here that are far too brief. They are well written, but tend to leave you with a tinge of resentment that the story was not developed more and didn't deliver anything of great weight or import. In other words, they seem just like some writing assignment for a course, to exercise technique and style, rather than an attempt to really communicate with the reader with passion.

Certainly, this is a worthwhile collection to browse. The strong stories far outweigh the less satisfying, and there is a strong continuity of both location and themes throughout. When Brazaitis finally writes a full length novel, I am sure it is going to be worth investing time in reading it.

[Claudia Putnam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written, well textured, but somehow not quite what I was hoping for based on reviews, blurbs, and the general reception as a book that contributed to the conversation around mental health. I liked the premise that it's hard to distinguish the well from the unwell at times, but I wanted deeper insight, and perhaps more connections among the stories and the characters therein would have been necessary for that. Anyone can say that anyone can look crazy in the right light. People say that all the time, and that's why we are having such a hard time getting the right help to the right people.

The stories that worked the best for me were those in which this conundrum showed up the most overtly and yet mysteriously, such as in the suicide epidemic of the first story (though this story is definitely not going to be to a lot of people's tastes), and in the case of the man who killed his family (and the case of his friend who loved him anyway). Or where you really couldn't tell who was crazy, the allegedly fleeing wife, or the supposed husband who was stalking her, or the man who tried everything to save her.

Other stories, though, seemed too obviously sad, like the one in which the selfish boy pushes his girlfriend to have an abortion while another man moves too slowly to commit to the one-legged woman he loves, or the guy who returns as a ghost to find that his family is over him (do girls talk for hours on their cell phones anymore?). After a while, I started to feel: who cares about these men and their predictable mistakes and their irrelevant penances?

Yet, the unpredictable stories were so refreshing and so well done, so 4 stars for them.

[Karin · Rating 5 out of 5]

These short stories, which explore human frailty, mortality and depression, are breathtaking. They include some of the most astute descriptions of emotion that I have ever read. I suggest that you read them with a pen close by.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an incredible challenging read. All at once depressing, uplifting, well-paced, slogging, heart-wrenching, melodramatic, fictitious, and all-too-real.

Depression is the overall theme of the collection. As Mark said on the Diane Rehm show, "Well, it certainly evolved out of my personal experience. I wish it hadn't done that. I think having suffered from severe depression as I did was, without a doubt, the most excruciating experience of my life."

Having suffered from depression myself, I saw parts of myself within certain characters, stories, & situations. Honestly, I'm not sure if I find that aspect therapeutic or condemning...

Personally, my favorite stories from the collection are, "Security", "Afterwards", "The Incurables", and "Classmates".

My favorite quotes, and the one's that slam closest to home for me, come from "Classmates":

You remember your own estrangement from what you loved, how everything you enjoyed became torture, and how the gulf between the pleasure you once felt in such activities and the burden they became made your pain all the more acute.

"We lied to protect our egos," you say, "to spare ourselves from having people think we were weak and helpless and unmanly. We spared ourselves from having them think we couldn't overcome our sadness or the blues or whatever mild affliction they thought was troubling us. In the meantime, knives were being driven into our foreheads. Fires were raging in our brains."

Depression is a painful, destructive affliction. Here's hoping, that in reading this, you find absolution & not damnation.

[Tabitha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sort of 'Winesburg, Ohio'-ish, only in my opinion it didn't work as well. A couple of the less strictly realistic stories were pretty good, (The Bridge, and The Incurables) but mostly I was pretty disappointed by the collection as a whole. Ended up skimming the last couple stories, with the intention of reading them if they could catch my eye... They didn't.
I'm generally pretty game for anything that has to do with how the mind works, mental illness, recovery, whatever. But this just didn't do it. Maybe try again sometime? Not sure it's worth it.

[Jennweil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very dark but interesting take on depression.

[Marta · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not at all a fan. Well written but not my type of book.

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

I felt too disturbed after the first two stories to to continue. I thought about trying a third, but the book was an ILL so I returned it.

[Peapod · Rating 2 out of 5]

meh

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally finished this amazing collection of psychodramas . . .

[elderfoil...the whatever champion · Rating 1 out of 5]

Never underestimate the superficiality of contemporary America. Thanks to Ploughshares for the sex, and Notre Dame for contrived, guilt-ridden, geriatric, melodrama. Surprise, surprise.