BOP

by Maxine Chernoff

Twelve short stories explore the efforts of characters to deal with fears, disappointments, and marital problems

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

126 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

Reviews

[Glenn Russell · Rating 5 out of 5]

American poet and fiction writer Maxine Chernoff has more than two dozen published books to her credit. BOP, one of her first, was published as part of the 1980s Vintage Contemporaries series, a dozen finely crafted and frequently humorous short stories mostly set in her native city of Chicago.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading and would like to share my observations on my very favorite, the title story, BOP, about the curious, somewhat wacky adventures of an older gentleman from Russia who immigrated to the United States and currently resides in Chicago.

Duplication Gone Wild: Ever since Oleg Lung left his home city of Moscow for Chicago three years ago, he’s been photocopying everything he can get his hands on, things such as grocery ads, Cubs schedules, magazine photos. As he tells the perplexed woman at the Xerox machine, the duplication of materials is of great interest to him and he’d even make copies of his hair, clothing, food and bowls if he could. And Oleg is not only Mr. Copy-It-All, he is a real Mr. Know-It-All, totally in command of such vital information as which American city (Los Angeles) has the highest ratio of pets to people. Oleg’s small apartment looks like a cross between a museum of American memorabilia and a tribute to American pop culture.

Jesters: Oleg returns to his apartment but there is not peace and quiet. He can hear all the banging in the apartment directly above his, two performers running through their skits in preparation for their show. How can those two jesters (Oleg calls them jesters; in fact, they are mimes) make so much noise since they perform in silence, doing things like pulling on ropes or acting out the human washing machine? Oleg despises what they do; such silence reminds him of loneliness and he had more than enough loneliness already. His usual protest nowadays takes the form of tapping on the ceiling with his broomstick. The jesters, in turn, have taken to giving Oleg free tickets to their performances.

Opinions: Everyone in America, young and old, rich and poor, has opinions on every conceivable topic imaginable, opinions on where dogs should leave their crap, adopting infants, homosexuals, facial hair, cooking cabbage, feeding robins.. Oleg reads all the opinions in the “Personal View” column of the Chicago newspaper and spends much time writing his own opinions to the paper. When you come to America, he quickly learned, you are entitled to not only have opinions but you can share your opinions wherever and whenever you please. Ah, freedom!

Nighthawk: Oleg works every night nine until five in the morning, sitting at a switchboard hooked up to an alarm system. A Mr. Kaplan was overjoyed at giving Oleg the job since Mr. Kaplan’s own father, an untrained illiterate immigrant to American made it in this country only because somebody gave him a job. Relaying the story back when they first met, Mr. Kalan began crying and hugged Oleg. Oleg enjoys the job since he can sleep during most of his working hours and has free time during the day to do what he really wants to do: go to the library.

Bookworms: One day at the public library, sitting at one of the tables with several other readers, Carrie Remm, a ten-year-old girl asked Oleg for a pen since her pen ran out of ink. One thing led to another and Oleg not only struck up a conversation with Carrie but they both left the library so they could continue their talk. Among other things, Carrie told Oleg about how her parents are divorced and her mother is always sad because she had an operation and can’t have any more children. Carrie and Oleg really hit it off and make plans to have dinner together Saturday night, his night off from work, at Carrie’s apartment.

Get Well Card: Oleg is concerned, even worried, about Mrs. Remm’s grief at losing her reproductive ability. He doesn’t want to do the wrong thing but decides to give Mrs. Remm roses and a card reading: “With extreme sympathy upon your loss." and signs the card with his first name, hoping for the intimacy that comes with first names. Sidebar: Maxine Chernoff renders this meeting of cultures, old Russian and new America with a tender, light, humorous touch.

Claire: One of the more charming scenes in the story is when on Saturday night Oleg enters the Remm apartment and hands Carrie’s mother the roses and get well card. Carrie’s mom, Claire Remm, is confused and much taken back. When Carrie told her she has a new friend from Russia she meet at the library coming to dinner, Claire was expecting a little Russian boy not a full-grown sixty-year old man. Anyway, after some initial awkwardness, everyone is relaxed and happy. After dinner, they all decide to go out on the town. When Claire suggests a movie, Oleg says he has something even better, a special treat; he has three tickets for an evening of pantomime!

Bop: Several days later, Oleg takes a trip to the beach. He meets a little boy, barely two, but there’s a dilemma: it appears his parents left their little boy on the beach all by himself. Oleg sits next to the boy, asks him his name. The boy says Bop. Oleg waits for hours until the beach is closed, and since, nobody has returned to claim the little boy, he takes Bop home with him. What to do? Actually, he knows a friend who always wanted a little brother and a woman who always wanted another child but cannot give birth now that she had her operation. Oleg cleans up the little boy and gets him nice and ready since a visit is in order. You will have to read for yourself to see what happens next in this sweet story.


The author at the time when she wrote BOP and the other stories in this collection.

[Anne Sanow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Remember that great Vintage Contemporaries paperback series from the '80s, where all of the then-"It" authors were published? This slim collection (12 stories in 126 pages) got undeservedly overshadowed by stuff like Bright Lights, Big City, but is worth picking up. Chernoff has continued to publish widely, but these stories are little gems that hold up well. (I use "The Hills of Andorra" when I teach fiction classes.) Chernoff's ability to capture and convey a good deal of detail in a compressed, precise way is terrific, as is the way she uncovers brief, intense emotion in her characters without sentimentality.

[Frank R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chernoff’s writing took a bit of getting used to but once I caught ahold of her style, I really enjoyed 80% of these stories. She tends to leave the reader wanting, however, but it serves as a strength in several of her tales.

In stories like “BOP” and “Heroes,” morally ambiguous characters dominate the plot while in “Don’t Send Poems, Send Money,” “The Hills of Andorra,” and “Two Times Two,” themes of loneliness, the contrast/conflict between ways of life embodied by female characters struggling with their choices, and a sense of plodding on until death with what you’ve got pervade.

Her stories are not for everyone and some were yawn-worthy but artistic nonetheless. Her dry humor rears its head at times as well for better or worse. Overall, she is a talented addition to the Vintage Contemporary series; she stands apart from writers like Carver, McInerney, and Barry Hannah but deservedly in their ranks.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love these stories. LOVE. Weird characters, odd stories, off-kilter piercing insight, but ordinary in their exposed humanity. There is a unique quirk to the prose too that makes it seem different than the so many other stories out there. I picked this one up on a total whim at the bookstore and couldn't be happier.