Wild Things: stories

by Jaimee Wriston Colbert

Fiction. This collection of "linked, rural-noir" stories depicts endangered humans in endangered environment. Jaimee Wriston Colbert has given us a story collection for our times. In WILD THINGS, Colbert's human characters face displacement, just like the tropical alligator who appears in New York's Susquehanna River. They face sheer desperation, like that of an ohia tree clinging to solid lava on a Hawaiian volcano. In an environment where good-paying factory jobs are an endangered species, Colbert's protagonists confront such post- industrial predations as meth, homelessness, and the ghosts of lost dreams. Their survival is their triumph.

249 pages, Paperback

Published October 15, 2016

Reviews

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wild Things: Stories by Jaimee Wriston Colbert, BkMk Press, 2016

Although sub-titled "stories," Wild Things is not the usual collection of short stories. Instead, the author weaves the several characters in and out of "chapters," each of which has its own somewhat self-contained structure. The stories are set in the southern tier of New York State--a region where industry is long gone and the people who remain are damaged by the poverty and lack of opportunity––and in Hawaii, although the later is less important than the former.

While exposing the sad fate of the world her characters inhabit, there are few villains in Colbert's world. Instead, she instills dignity into her characters' lives without making them into victims. Several of them are well aware of their short-comings and don’t blame others for their troubles.

Despite the fact that there is an over-arching theme to this collection, Colbert does not attempt to create a cohesive structure where each situation is resolved. This is consistent with her focus on characters for whom there are no easy answers.

Readers who enjoy reading about the "real lives" of contemporary Americans out of the mainstream will enjoy Wild Things.

If you look up the author, here’s what you’ll learn: Jaimee Wriston Colbert is author of five books of fiction: Wild Things, a linked story collection; the novel, Shark Girls, finalist for the Foreword Magazine Book of the Year Award; Dream Lives of Butterflies, gold medalist in the Independent Publisher Awards; Climbing the God Tree, winner of the Willa Cather Fiction Prize, and Sex, Salvation, and the Automobile, winner of the Zephyr Prize. Originally from Hawaii, she lives in upstate New York where she is Professor of Creative Writing at SUNY, Binghamton University.

[Joy Passanante · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wild Things is a wow of an experience, one that exploded with momentum with every page and every perception. I have read most of Jaimee Wriston Colbert’s books, and every one of them is compelling, intelligent, insightful, and beautifully written, so my expectations were high when I began reading her most recent book​. ​It exceeded my expectations. And it is not only my favorite of her books, but one of my favorite books EVER. I admire everything about these subtly interconnected stories and the surprises and poignancy they provide. I could go on and on with descriptors like “ingenious,” “riveting,” “gorgeous,” “fascinating,” and “viscerally inventive,” but I’ll cut to the chase: it’s a great read.

I know it will stay with me, its stunning images and the complex lives of its characters whirling in my head for a longer time and in more ways than I can possibly anticipate.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading two or three of these stories, I thought I might have to put this book aside because it's grim. Another story or two and I realized the the entire book is set in one town and several characters are interconnected, and I became interested in seeing where the stories would go. Colbert does a superb job of changing her voice to fit the different characters she writes. I did find myself occasionally confused by turns of phrase, and I don't care for two items in a list connected by a comma rather than by a conjunction because it's confusing. Confusing syntax is the primary reason I've given this four stars instead of five. The book is bleak; the subject matter is depressing; it's too realistic to be fun. But it is interesting and, yes, important.