Willem De Kooning's Paintbrush

by Kerry Lee Powell

Ranging from an island holiday gone wrong to a dive bar on the upswing to a yuppie mother in a pricey subdivision seeing her worst fears come true, these acclaimed, deftly written stories are populated by barkeeps, good men down on their luck, rebellious teens, lonely immigrants, dreamers and realists, fools and quiet heroes. In Kerry Lee Powell’s skillful hands, each character, no matter what his or her choices, is deeply human in their search for connection. Powell holds us in her grasp, exploring with a black humour themes of belonging, the simmering potential for violence, and the meaning of art no matter where it is found. She reveals with each story something essential about the way we see the world.

Genres: Short Stories, Canada, Fiction, Short Story Collection

272 pages, Paperback

First published April 26, 2016

Reviews

[Krista · Rating 4 out of 5]

The man had come and infected them with a new way of seeing. She felt her vision blunting now even further, blearing the living room couches and chairs into a mass of cubes and blobs at the centre of which was Boyd, his body filleted by shadows from the venetian blinds, his face bloated with suffering and streaked with mucus and tears.

As the above quote comes from the conclusion of the title story in Willem De Kooning's Paintbrush, it feels appropriate as a summation of the whole: in this collection of fifteen short stories (many of which have previously won awards on their own), author Kerry-Lee Powell offers us “new ways of seeing”; encouraging the reader to look beneath the surfaces of people and situations that may at first seem ugly or frightening or offputting (much like the De Kooning paintings that inspired the title). Peopled with refugees and alcoholics, bullies and an aging stripper or two, these stories – replete with humanity and dark humour – explore the ways in which people try to connect to one another through generosity, compassion, and art. With a consistent narrative voice and recurring themes, these stories hang together as a cohesive whole, and as I jumped from one to the next, I was frequently moved and delighted. I'm not surprised that this collection was nominated for all the big Canadian literary prizes.

He wanted to make work that disrupted comfortable or shallow-minded notions about reality. He wanted to go deep, delve into nether regions where even other artists feared to go.

Most of these stories contain an artist as a minor character, and in many cases, these are people who have given up on their art. Just as De Kooning's paintings provoke the subconscious with their abstract expressionism, Powell uses subtle images from folk tales to the same effect in her writing – these short stories are crowded with mistaken twins and doppelgängers, witches in the forest, dreams and subterranean exploration, stepparents, grottoes, mirrors, and disguises – and the effect is an expansion of reality without ever losing sight of the fact that these stories are all anchored in the very real. Much was touching and much was funny, in each story characters evolved to a new way of seeing by the end, and ultimately, I couldn't ask for much more from this fine collection.

[Lauren Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Like the canvases of Willem de Kooning himself, Kerry Lee Powell’s stories are riots of imagery and sensation held together with a keen eye for craft and composition. The book’s rag-tag, rough-and-tumble cast of characters – which includes aging exotic dancers, barflies, boozehounds, and possible gang members – is often struggling, occasionally down-and-out, but always represented with dignity and respect. Willem de Kooning’s Paintbrush is an exquisitely written, vibrant, and thoughtful collection that pulses with life, humour, intelligence, and great feeling, one that signals a bold new direction for the Canadian short story."

- 2016 Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize Jury Lauren B. Davis, Trevor Ferguson, and Pasha Malla

[Corinne Wasilewski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! This is the best collection of short stories I have read in some time. Each of the protagonists in these stories has lost his/her footing. Specific events have led to a loss of innocence and/or disillusionment with life. The title made me wonder. Who is Willem de Kooning? Turns out he is best known for the violent disfigurement of women in his paintings. In Powell's stories, the disfigurement is mental rather than physical and it strikes both men and women. This violence breaks down a character's defense mechanisms and world view leaving him/her vulnerable and exposed.

The quality of writing in this collection is even throughout (with the exception of "Kindness" which is weaker than the others on all fronts). Powell engages the reader right from the opening sentence and keeps him/her reading straight through to the end. She excels at using a character's memories and flashbacks to add depth and texture to the story. She also makes good use of hooks. These strategically placed references or remarks lead the reader to believe there is much left unsaid and if he/she will only keep on reading all truth will be revealed. I was also impressed with the author's focus. It's as though each and every sentence is laid down with the greatest of care with a finger always minding the pulse of the story. The endings, too, are extremely well done. They don't give away too much, but, suggest a major shift in the protagonist's understanding of his/her situation which raises questions in the mind of the reader and creates suspense. The end result -- these stories stay with you long after you put down the book. Highly recommended.

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is nothing comfortable or comforting in Kerry Lee Powell’s debut short story collection Willem De Kooning’s Paintbrush. These are dark, chaotic tales of lives being lived far from polite society, so close to the margin that poverty and violence are familiar constants. Powell’s characters do whatever it takes to get by. Many harbour ambitions of various sorts, but have strayed so far from the life they intended to lead that the scholarly or artistic accomplishments they once yearned for are nothing more than a dream. A lot of these characters hang out with people they just met and hardly know, because it’s either that or spend their time alone. There is no long-term striving in these pages. Powell’s characters are just trying to make it through the day. The cast includes strippers and bartenders, mothers and fathers, rebellious teens, homeless men and women, aspiring artists and people dying of cancer. The plots most often revolve around work and family. In “Kindness” Renée, a "large" woman in pink, uses her accounting and promotional skills to help Macy revive his tavern and attract a new clientele, but is subsequently banned from the tavern she helped save when her eccentricities become untenable. In “The Spirit of Things” young Christoff escapes from a career of servitude in his abusive father’s delicatessen for life as a guitar player in a metal band, only to find that artistic control can be just as rigid and oppressive as other kinds of control. And in the title story a couple go on vacation in Los Angeles, where the wife is traumatized by the roller-coaster at the amusement park. Then in the airport on their way home, the husband, Boyd, is attacked for no apparent reason by someone who knocks him down and beats him. The head injury he suffers renders him an emotional cripple, unable to respond reasonably or predictably to the world around him, and his wife is left with the thought that they have both been “infected” by “a new way of seeing.” Powell’s genius is for circular and surreal action scenes that on the surface seem to go nowhere and in all directions at once, until upon reflection you realize that she is revealing to us a raw and ungainly truth about modern life that is not easy to fathom or accept. Admittedly this kind of fiction, in which anything goes and often does, is not for all tastes. But for 250 pages it provides a bracing and dizzying ride through a grotesque landscape that, once you have visited, you will not soon forget.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

If the Globe and Mail ever asks me who writes my favourite sentences I think I'll say Kerry Lee Powell. A lot of her opening lines (Today's the day Mitchell Burnhope gets the royal shit kicked out of him ... She was still having nightmares about Magic Mountain six months after the attack ... My biggest mistake was going on vacation with a buddy I met at the Boogaloo ... I took my kung fu instructor off speed-dial today ... A dozen of us were dressed up as low-budget ghosts outside Earl's Court tube station) are arresting, instantly grabbing my attention, projecting a scene in my mind while hinting at something more, posing a question and inviting me to read on. But what was happening was usually much deeper than first expected. She's economic with her words but in a few pages I came to care about the characters (whether I rooted for them or not) and I miss them now, feel like they're still out there somewhere wheeling and dealing to keep head above water.

I recommend savouring these stories.

[Lannie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The titular story in this collection was a colorful treat. It really fleshes out the feeling of complex characters and their emotional dynamics.

There are multiple thematic traumas at play in here: seeing who your partner is for the first time, the random violence of an unknowable universe, the feminine pressures of being a caretaker, crippling depression spirals, etc., all of which I could feel acutely. This is truly a deep and sentimental work.

[Corina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of stories was overall good, but some were a little hard to get through. I was a little disappointed that the story titled "Willem De Kooning's Paintbrush" was the one I enjoyed the least. The best thing about these stories is that each story is different, so if you don't like one story, chances are that you'll love the next.

[Karen Green · Rating 3 out of 5]

Masterful writing but the stories were so bleak and the characters so unlikeable and unsavoury that I just wanted it to be over.

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great collection of stories. admittedly, there were a few that left me confused but sometimes that's the beauty of a short story -- not everything is revealed by the author, leaving the reader to ponder.

[Bay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best first line of a short story: “I took my Kung fu instructor off speed dial today. I was leaning on him too much for advice.”

[Kyle B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kerry Lee Powell's collection of stories is a fascinating dive into a world of ordinary characters - our neighbours or friends - thrust into dark situations they are ill-equipped for. It's a fantastic collection that is deserving of the credit it received as a finalist of the Governor General's Award.

What I find most impressive is the range in Powell's characters yet how easily she immerses us in their worlds. Maureen, living in posh suburbia, is sent nearly to insanity seeking out a red Firebird all while trying to bite back racist assumptions that drive her motivations. Boyd, the excited and free loving man-child who takes his partner to Disneyland, but turns into a reclusive who hides the remains of his roast beef under the bed after an airport assault.

Some take place in seedy, grimy pockets of major cities, others small, backwoods towns. All this painted without Powell ever naming any of her settings. I struggle to find a comparison that adequately matches Powell's writing. Perhaps calling Powell a Canadian Flannery O'Connor is the most apt I can come up with, as the stories kept taking me back to "The Peeler."

These stories will make your heart break for the characters. There are times when you will smile, a brief glimpse of sunshine bursting through the clouds. Parts of Social Studies may even have you grinning from ear to ear. Mostly, they just feel raw. For that, Powell deserves praise on an excellent collection.

[Beer pairing: Black Oak Brewing's 10 Bitter Years. As the name suggests, this is a bitter beer that seems right up the alley of many of the characters we find in this story collection. Brewed in an old office park in Toronto's west end, it's an unsuspecting brewery you may glance over on first look. But just like Powell's rarely-talked about collection, you're only punishing yourself if you do.]

[Kristine Morris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't read a lot of short stories. I often don't enjoy them, but lately the volumes I've read have been highly engaging.... Stone Mattress by Margaret Atwood. Cool Water by Dianne Warren and now this one. Chosen for the intriguing title and cover I did not know what to expect. Powell's stories take place in the various countries she's lived and we dip into the lives of a variety of different characters, some quite relatable, others rather strange but still worthy of our attention. We encounter each of them during a moment in their lives when circumstances require them to take a pause, when they are vulnerable, and when they may or may not choose a new path forward. I found each short story engrossing. A great collection.

[Karen Weisbeck]

An incredible collection of well written short stories.

[Lee Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A stunning, visceral, poetic and at times quite hilarious collection. Such a unique, confident voice. Longer review in Atlantic Books Today No 82 (Winter 2016-17).

[Naomi · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[September Dee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this book from Goodreads and am so pleased I did. The stories are wonderful. Great characters and story lines. Definitely a recommended read for short story lovers!

[Angela · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh. I didn't like any of these stories. Powell seems to be a one-trick pony...and her trick isn't even good. This collection is monotonous. There are two quotes that sum up what she was going for:

   "Now the room seemed awash in sad profundity, like a European movie. Instead of an assortment of creeps and lowlifes with bad breath, here was raw humanity, defiantly festive in the face of poverty and despair." (p. 154, "Social Studies")

   "He wasn't in it for fame or money. He wanted to make work that disrupted comfortable or shallow-minded notions about reality." (p. 210, "Vulnerable Adults")

The entire point of the book is that all of the characters are unlikable rejects in one way or another. Details in the stories differ, but each is fundamentally the same. They're even approximately the same length. All of the first-person narrators sound exactly the same, regardless of age, sex, or circumstance. Same goes for the characters written in third-person. The dialogue is flat. Her writing is trying so hard to be literary that at times it's almost comical (there are five stories in which she describes a character's face "contorting into a fist," and she likes making similes about flesh looking like raw pork or hamburger meat). Powell seems so in love with her own style that she isn't able to create believable characters. Some stories offer casual critiques of racism, classism, and ableism, but I wouldn't say that Powell succeeds in "disurpt[ing] comfortable or shallow-minded notions about reality." Her stories aren't thought-provoking. A few of the stories have ambiguous endings that work surprisingly well, but, aside from that, the writing doesn't inspire any wonder.

This collection seemed like a freshman's creative writing portfolio. The story arcs are predictable and conflict arises from the characters' minor fuck-ups or misfortune. I'll try not to spoil too much, but here are some examples:

-a transvestite/giantess revitalizes a dive bar, but her crazy friend drives away all the customers.
-a suburban bitch resents her fat/depressed/"psychotic" daughter and her Vietnamese boyfriend.
-a woman runs away from her abusive ex and falls in love with a kung fu instructor.
-a woman dates an artist/asshole to try to find meaning in life. They develop a weird obsession with their mentally disabled neighbour.
-a naive guy rents his house to a hoarder, then decides to escape by going to a "tropical vacation condo" that turns out to be an empty lot.

If you're into stories about flat "quirky" characters in mundane situations, this is the book for you.

[Ariane Fleischmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this collection of short stories for three reasons: 1. Kerry Lee Powell is a good ol’ Canadian author who has been on my list for a while now; 2. Her short stories have won some awards, so my confidence that she would be a good read was high; and 3. The online reviews are divisive – most notably because some people found the stories to be a bit depressing. But depressing works for me. If you had to divide people into two groups – one full of chipper folk and the other as more serious or “down” people – I would probably fall firmly in the latter, non-chipper category.

First of all these stories aren’t depressing, not really. They’re thoughtful and thought-provoking. The world isn’t all sunshine and daisies (and fat rats turning yellow). People make decisions – sometimes difficult ones – every day. People are unhappy, for a day, or for a decade, and sometimes for reasons beyond their control. Powell opens a window into people’s lives. People who are trying to find meaning, and figure shit out, and make life better for themselves or someone else.

Her prose is careful and attentive. Powell has the ability to make you want to zip through a story and then drink a glass of wine while you contemplate it. I read this slowly and drank a lot of wine.

Some characters and settings stood out to me more than others Maybe because I identify with them more. Like Dawn in “Firebirds”, whose mother doesn’t see what’s going on. And the boy who does. Or Renee in “Kindness”, who helps a struggling bar for seemingly no reason. Christoff, a young man trying to find his place through music in “The Spirit of Things.”

No spoilers, but Powell (generally speaking) writes excellent endings. In just thousands of words she builds a world and people you care about, and then she ends the story on the cusp of something. It’s often ambiguous – but hey, isn’t that life.

Reading to reading, I think you could find hope, dreamers, and optimists in equal measure with loneliness, despair, and realists. It’s formidable and lifelike.

I’m not sure that I like the collection title. That story – Willem de Koonig’s Paintbrush – was among my least favourite of the stories. If anything, it’s Kerry Lee Powell’s paintbrush that made a stroke on the canvas of humanity. How’s that for vague? Enjoy!

[Tôpher Mills · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a brilliant collection of short stories. They are a strange mix of Bukowski, Carver and Alice Munroe. There are earthy narratives of ordinary, everyday life but written so evocatively they flow into your mind like really good wine. The moments in the lives of her characters she chooses to elucidate are well thought out points of transition including love, sex, break-ups, bad business, loss, violence and vocative heavy metal. They thus take the ordinary lives and push them into the extraordinary, heightening the reader's fascination and providing both scintillating and disturbing revelations. The range is very broad from the seediest of strip joints to the posh middle classes. Only one tale veers into the pretentious world of modern art students and is told with a wry, if not evil, sense of humour. Why then is there such a pretentious, arty-farty title to the collection? It must surely be somewhat limiting to all those who don't know that much about Willem de Kooning and as the story isn't about him and hardly mentions him, I find it a strange choice for the collection's title, especially as this book deserves the widest readership it can get. (Don't get me started on the cover design. Wallpaper? Really!) Ignore the title and the cover, they do not in any way represent the wonderful stories in this collection. Ms Powell is a literary star not of the future but of the right now.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of very-well written but depressing stories about depressed/depressing people in depressing situations. While the stories are individually enjoyable, it would have been nice to have a couple of lighter stories included to help with the flow. It really helps to take a break between (and sometimes with) stories; I don't know if I could get through a novel in this tone. Still, well-written.

[Margarita · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was difficult to stay invested in these stories due to an underlying dark tone and parade of unsympathetic, raw characters throughout. Really strong, muscular prose that is just a little too hard-hitting at times to make the full collection enjoyably readable.

[Zoom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fifteen short stories about the walking wounded and other outsiders...people doing the best they can under the circumstances. The characters and settings stuck with me more than the stories did. Powell writes with a touch of humour and a lot of compassion.

My favourite stories from this collection were Kindness, Social Studies, and Property of Fatty. And I love the cover art.

[Tracey MG · Rating 3 out of 5]

loved her characters and the gritty way they approach life

[Debbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rave critical reviews and listed for the 2016 Giller. Fell flat for me.

[Shaena Lambert · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! So moving and so insightful. Brilliant stories.

[Carrie Snyder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dark, disturbing and brilliant. Kerry Lee is a genius writer.

[Niknaz]

not sure i’m going to like this. moving ooooon

[Megan Holodniuk · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this book up on a whim at McNally Robinson because one of the reviews of this collection said it read like "over-hearing a story in a bar." All of these short stories are cruelly fascinating and exactly what you'd try to over hear in the bar. Each of the protagonists in Powell's stories is somehow off-kilter and you just want to know why, but her stories never get that far! She cuts off her stories, leaving you feeling, at times, off kilter yourself. The story about the woman's husband who descends into a weird sort of madness after being beaten in public is particularly weird-feeling. I enjoyed this. It was different.

[Heather]

A thought-provoking collection of short stories. I really enjoyed the stories that were told, even though they mostly focused on dark issues such as depression. Definitely worht reading!

[Enid Wray · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting collection of stories. I understand why it was nominated for the Giller - the stories are well crafted - but the collection didn't move me the way Alice Munro stories do.