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The Theory of Light and Matter
These ten short stories explore loss and sacrifice in American suburbia. In idyllic suburbs across the country, from Philadelphia to San Francisco, narrators struggle to find meaning or value in their lives because of (or in spite of) something that has happened in their pasts. In Hole, a young man reconstructs the memory of his childhood friend's deadly fall. In The Theory of Light and Matter, a woman second-guesses her choice between a soul mate and a comfortable one. Memories erode as Porter's characters struggle to determine what has happened to their loved ones and whether or not they are responsible. Children and teenagers carry heavy burdens in these stories: in River Dog, the narrator cannot fully remember a drunken party where he suspects his older brother assaulted a classmate; in Azul, a childless couple, craving the affection of an exchange student, fails to set the boundaries that would keep him safe; and in Departure, a suburban teenage boy fascinated with the Amish makes a futile attempt to date a girl he can never be close to.
Memory often replaces absence in these stories as characters reconstruct the events of their pasts in an attempt to understand what they have chosen to keep. These struggles lead to an array of secretive and escapist behavior as the characters, united by middle-class social pressures, try to maintain a sense of order in their lives. Drawing on the tradition of John Cheever, these stories recall and revisit the landscape of American suburbia through the lens of a new generation.
Memory often replaces absence in these stories as characters reconstruct the events of their pasts in an attempt to understand what they have chosen to keep. These struggles lead to an array of secretive and escapist behavior as the characters, united by middle-class social pressures, try to maintain a sense of order in their lives. Drawing on the tradition of John Cheever, these stories recall and revisit the landscape of American suburbia through the lens of a new generation.
192 pages, Hardcover
First published October 15, 2008
85 people are currently reading
2116 people want to read
About the author
Andrew Porter
6 books352 followersAndrew Porter is the author of four books, including the short story collection The Theory of Light and Matter (Vintage/Penguin Random House), which won the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction, the novel In Between Days (Knopf), which was a Barnes & Noble “Discover Great New Writers” selection, an IndieBound “Indie Next” selection, and the San Antonio Express News’s “Fictional Work of the Year,” the short story collection The Disappeared (Knopf), which was published in April 2023 and longlisted for The Story Prize and the Joyce Carol Oates Prize, and the novel The Imagined Life, which is forthcoming from Knopf in 2025. Porter’s books have been published in foreign editions in the UK and Australia and translated into numerous languages, including French, Spanish, Dutch, Italian, Bulgarian, and Korean.
In addition to winning the Flannery O’Connor Award, his collection, The Theory of Light and Matter, received Foreword Magazine’s “Book of the Year” Award for Short Fiction, was a finalist for The Steven Turner Award, The Paterson Prize and The WLT Book Award, was shortlisted for the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing, and was selected by both The Kansas City Star and The San Antonio Express-News as one of the “Best Books of the Year.”
The recipient of a Pushcart Prize and fellowships from the James Michener-Copernicus Foundation, the W.K. Rose Foundation, and the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation, Porter’s short stories have appeared in Best American Short Stories, One Story, Ploughshares, The Southern Review, The Threepenny Review, The Missouri Review, American Short Fiction, Narrative Magazine, Epoch, Story, The Colorado Review, Electric Literature, and Texas Monthly, among others. He has had his work read on NPR’s Selected Shorts and twice selected as one of the Distinguished Stories of the Year by Best American Short Stories. A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, Porter is currently a Professor of English and Director of the Creative Writing Program at Trinity University in San Antonio.
www.andrewporterwriter.com
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 206 reviews
February 21, 2014
Andrew Porter’s debut short story collection The Theory of Light and Matter is a definite must-read. He received the Flannery O’Connor Award for it and it’s not difficult to see why. His understanding of the human heart and the reasons people love, hate, succeed, fail, is astonishing. If you are like me, you will see yourself—and those you love--many times over in these characters.
In “Coyotes,” for example, Porter writes of a father—“a failed documentary filmmaker”—whose “small amount of talent … served as a source of frustration for him, a constant reminder of some vague, unrealized potential.” When we witness this character chase an unattainable dream—at the expense of a loving and supporting wife and son—we ache for what might have been, but also recognize those times that we, ourselves, have forsaken the stable relationships in our lives to chase fantasies.
This is also the case in the title story, “The Theory of Light and Matter,” in which the narrator describes choosing between a life of quiet stability and a life of passion. Other reviewers I read here have also remarked upon the remarkably insightful language in this story, and I have to agree. Sentences like, “…the only truth lies in the secrets we keep from each other," make so much sense, you almost have to put the book down and think about how you might apply them to your own life.
This, ultimately, is really what makes Porter’s writing remarkable—its ability to make you think about your own life, your own decisions, and your own relationships. I literally found myself highlighting passages as I read this book, as I knew I’d want to come back and think about how they might apply to me. There was a beautiful passage at the end of “Storms” about kids waiting for their father to come home from work in the evening. I cried, not because the story was so sad, but because I immediately recognized the feeling of love and safety the narrator describes.
And I have to put in a word about what I feel is absolutely the BEST story in the collection---“Departure,” a haunting coming-of-age story set in Amish Country, Pennsylvania. In this story, Porter writes about a world wholly original and immediately engrossing. As the narrator witnesses the annual “escape” of the Amish teenagers in his town, he is forced to confront and define his own “otherness,” a process that leads him to resent not only the “beautiful and wealthy kids” who look down upon him, but also the “the dirty and disreputable country kids” to whom he feels superior. His doomed quest for self-definition provides the story with much of its pathos. Also noteworthy is the story’s stunning juxtaposition of the language of nostalgia (beautiful, longing descriptions of the past and the rural landscape) and the language of violence, especially as it relates to the treatment of the Amish teenagers by the local prep school kids. One of the final scenes, a confrontation between a group of these kids and one of the Amish young men in the parking lot of a diner, was so real—so full of tension and ferocity—that it lingered with me for days. For my money, this story is an instant classic—deserving of inclusion in anthologies of the best American short stories for years to come.
This is definitely a book to read, and I look forward to more from this talented writer
In “Coyotes,” for example, Porter writes of a father—“a failed documentary filmmaker”—whose “small amount of talent … served as a source of frustration for him, a constant reminder of some vague, unrealized potential.” When we witness this character chase an unattainable dream—at the expense of a loving and supporting wife and son—we ache for what might have been, but also recognize those times that we, ourselves, have forsaken the stable relationships in our lives to chase fantasies.
This is also the case in the title story, “The Theory of Light and Matter,” in which the narrator describes choosing between a life of quiet stability and a life of passion. Other reviewers I read here have also remarked upon the remarkably insightful language in this story, and I have to agree. Sentences like, “…the only truth lies in the secrets we keep from each other," make so much sense, you almost have to put the book down and think about how you might apply them to your own life.
This, ultimately, is really what makes Porter’s writing remarkable—its ability to make you think about your own life, your own decisions, and your own relationships. I literally found myself highlighting passages as I read this book, as I knew I’d want to come back and think about how they might apply to me. There was a beautiful passage at the end of “Storms” about kids waiting for their father to come home from work in the evening. I cried, not because the story was so sad, but because I immediately recognized the feeling of love and safety the narrator describes.
And I have to put in a word about what I feel is absolutely the BEST story in the collection---“Departure,” a haunting coming-of-age story set in Amish Country, Pennsylvania. In this story, Porter writes about a world wholly original and immediately engrossing. As the narrator witnesses the annual “escape” of the Amish teenagers in his town, he is forced to confront and define his own “otherness,” a process that leads him to resent not only the “beautiful and wealthy kids” who look down upon him, but also the “the dirty and disreputable country kids” to whom he feels superior. His doomed quest for self-definition provides the story with much of its pathos. Also noteworthy is the story’s stunning juxtaposition of the language of nostalgia (beautiful, longing descriptions of the past and the rural landscape) and the language of violence, especially as it relates to the treatment of the Amish teenagers by the local prep school kids. One of the final scenes, a confrontation between a group of these kids and one of the Amish young men in the parking lot of a diner, was so real—so full of tension and ferocity—that it lingered with me for days. For my money, this story is an instant classic—deserving of inclusion in anthologies of the best American short stories for years to come.
This is definitely a book to read, and I look forward to more from this talented writer
September 18, 2010
This was the August selection for my book club and my favorite of all the books we've read this year. From what I've seen, Mr. Porter has already received a lot of rave reviews for it and it's not hard to see why. Each story is so intricately composed and emotionally satisfying. His prose is simple, graceful and hauntingly poetic. Usually short story collections are uneven, but there wasn't one story in this book I'd take out. I loved especially "Hole" and "River Dog." I read somewhere that Mr. Porter is working on a novel and I look forward to it with great anticipation!
December 15, 2020
This was a very enjoyable collection of short stories. I loved each and every one. Porter is a wonderfully descriptive writer with a knack for bringing subtle emotion into his stories. He plunges you right into the middle of the character’s lives. The writing is straightforward but not simple. He makes me think of someone like William Trevor who doesn’t play around with trickery or stylistic gimmicks. His talent is obvious from the first page but he doesn’t throw it in your face or make it about him. The same is true of Trevor incidentally. Not long ago I went through a phase where every collection I read made me want to stop reading short stories. I love short stories, but I thought the authors I was reading were showing off. Porter is a refreshing exception to this trend. He tells you a story plain and simple, but there is nothing about the stories you would expect. In the title story he tells of a college student’s bizarre relationship with her much older professor. There are so many ways this story could have gone wrong in lesser hands, but Porter avoids the clichés. He makes it about something else. He goes on to do this in almost every story. You might think it’s going in a certain direction but then he flips it on you without making it feel gimmicky. One of my favorite stories in the book is “Departure.” This is a recounting of a teenage boy’s fascination with Amish people. It starts out…”That spring we were sixteen Tanner and I started dating the Amish girls out on the rural highway—sometimes two or three at the same time, because it wasn’t really dating. There was no way of getting serious.” Another story called “River Dogs” begins… “It is easy now, after everything that has happened to my brother, to say I didn’t hate him. But I can still remember how it used to humiliate me when the rumors about him spread though my high school.” Many of the stories are coming of age stories, but Porter’s approach is new. He paints images directly into your mind. The characters are like friends you don’t want to say goodbye to. Some of these stories could have even been novels. Everyone in my reading group liked a different story best. My favorites were “Departure,” “The Hole,” and “River Dogs.” I also enjoyed a very short story called “Skin" and the story "Coyote." I plan to reread this book in the future and I will be interested to see what Andrew Porter does next..
April 14, 2010
This slim first collection by Andrew Porter was stunning. I only read short story collections occasionally, but this one came highly recommended by a friend who also happens to write short stories. This is one of those books I'll probably reread in like a year. Amazing.
March 9, 2010
I have read some stunningly good short story collections in the past year (Lydia Davis's "Varieties of Disturbance," Maile Meloy's "Both Ways is the Only Way I want It," Nam Le's "The Boat"), and now I'm adding Andrew Porter's "The Theory of Light and Matter" to that list of books I just couldn't put down. If you appreciate beautiful honest writing without all the flash, you will love these stories. My personal favorites were "Connecticut," "River Dog" and "Departure," but they were all so good.
December 12, 2008
The Theory of Light and Matter is a collection of short stories by Andrew Porter, who received Flannery O’Connor Prize for Short Fiction.
Here, Mr Porter talks about "Departure," one of the stories in the book.
Almost all of my stories begin with an image, or a memory from my past, that has stayed with me over the years. In the case of “Departure,” the image was that of a small arcade inside a strip mall that my friends and I used to frequent in the late afternoons after school. There was nothing unusual about this arcade, except for the fact that every once in a while a group of Amish teenagers would show up in street clothes to play video games there. I had grown up among the Amish—there was a large population in the small town where I lived—but I’d never seem them out in public like this and I had certainly never seen them wearing street clothes. At the time, I didn’t understand that this was part of an experiment designed by their parents to reinforce their children’s commitment to the Amish way of life. I simply thought that there was something strange going on, something I didn’t understand. And though the arcade itself never made its way into the final draft of my story, and though I myself did little more than stare at these kids, I think that the questions that puzzled me back then were the same questions that compelled me to write the story: Who were these kids? What did they want? And, perhaps most importantly, what would happen if I actually walked across the arcade and tried to talk to them?
A download of the story is available all week at ForeWord Book Club
Here, Mr Porter talks about "Departure," one of the stories in the book.
Almost all of my stories begin with an image, or a memory from my past, that has stayed with me over the years. In the case of “Departure,” the image was that of a small arcade inside a strip mall that my friends and I used to frequent in the late afternoons after school. There was nothing unusual about this arcade, except for the fact that every once in a while a group of Amish teenagers would show up in street clothes to play video games there. I had grown up among the Amish—there was a large population in the small town where I lived—but I’d never seem them out in public like this and I had certainly never seen them wearing street clothes. At the time, I didn’t understand that this was part of an experiment designed by their parents to reinforce their children’s commitment to the Amish way of life. I simply thought that there was something strange going on, something I didn’t understand. And though the arcade itself never made its way into the final draft of my story, and though I myself did little more than stare at these kids, I think that the questions that puzzled me back then were the same questions that compelled me to write the story: Who were these kids? What did they want? And, perhaps most importantly, what would happen if I actually walked across the arcade and tried to talk to them?
A download of the story is available all week at ForeWord Book Club
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October 31, 2011
This collection is disappointing at best. Porter draws you in with beautiful, bittersweet language but when you reach the core you realize there is nothing else to be had; basically there is no tootsie roll center to this tootsie pop. He tries his best to depress the reader into thinking he is a master of literature, selling you tears and heartache in faltering attempt to unlock the human spirit.
After reading the title story was where I began to see through his veil. Porter tries to write from a female perspective and essentially delivers a male character in the form of a female playing off male stereotypes of what they think a woman's psyche is like. Also knowing that he is a college professor, the story came across as creepy and self serving as it seemed to be his way to rope young college girls into his bedroom as they will weep over the loss of love with the old professor Robert. The rest of the stories are all bogged down in this bittersweet sadness and you as a reader don't come out at the end feeling any the wiser. I get it, the world is sad and love is sad but goddamn, get on with it and give me something of substance. This book rides the wave of the emo culture from the mid 2000's, attempting to reach their college age sensibilities and I am sure it does well with this crowd.
Despite it's success, I feel this book falls far short of the name Flannery O'Connor, who is attached to it's award, giving the impression that it must have been an off year for short fiction. If you want a read with admittedly beautiful words (hence, along with the surreal story Coyotes, why it is really a 2.5/5 although I really wanted to award only 2) that will make you sob and lament over lost love and dead childhood friends, then this may be a ripe choice for you. However, Porter's words are emotionally effective yet empty and lacking of any true "matter" and you would do well to look elsewhere for a short story collection that will really capture your heart and mind.
After reading the title story was where I began to see through his veil. Porter tries to write from a female perspective and essentially delivers a male character in the form of a female playing off male stereotypes of what they think a woman's psyche is like. Also knowing that he is a college professor, the story came across as creepy and self serving as it seemed to be his way to rope young college girls into his bedroom as they will weep over the loss of love with the old professor Robert. The rest of the stories are all bogged down in this bittersweet sadness and you as a reader don't come out at the end feeling any the wiser. I get it, the world is sad and love is sad but goddamn, get on with it and give me something of substance. This book rides the wave of the emo culture from the mid 2000's, attempting to reach their college age sensibilities and I am sure it does well with this crowd.
Despite it's success, I feel this book falls far short of the name Flannery O'Connor, who is attached to it's award, giving the impression that it must have been an off year for short fiction. If you want a read with admittedly beautiful words (hence, along with the surreal story Coyotes, why it is really a 2.5/5 although I really wanted to award only 2) that will make you sob and lament over lost love and dead childhood friends, then this may be a ripe choice for you. However, Porter's words are emotionally effective yet empty and lacking of any true "matter" and you would do well to look elsewhere for a short story collection that will really capture your heart and mind.
January 6, 2010
Best short stories I've read in a very long time. I'm usually bored with most collections after reading one or two, but not so with this Flannery O'Connor Award Winner. I loved each and every story and didn't want them to end. Each unique narrator possessed a similar nagging thread--a drive to make sense of something that happened in their past, while at the same time navigating their present. Their current lives intertwine with former and create rich landscapes that seem both familiar and foreign to them. Their memories seem almost like secrets. In the title story a woman muses on the history that her husband doesn't know (or doesn't want to know) exists: "It is the part of me that can destroy as easily as it loves. It is the part of me that feels safest and most at home behind closed doors in a dark bedroom, that the only truth lies in the secrets that we keep from each other." Despite the array of secretive and escapist behaviors, you trust these characters and their ability to maintian their well ordered lives. Honest, sensitive work. I intend to read each and every story again.
Just read this great quote and wanted to add it: "Andrew Porter has the kind of voice one can accept as universal--honest and grave, with transparency as its adornment." ~ Marilynne Robinson, author of Gilead
Also, of course, just discovered that the author grew up in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the youngest of 3 children, so again, not surprising that I could relate so much to his writing.
AND of course he's been compared to Raymond Carver. These reviews were almost as delightful to read as the book itself!
http://www.andrewporterwriter.com/AND...
Just read this great quote and wanted to add it: "Andrew Porter has the kind of voice one can accept as universal--honest and grave, with transparency as its adornment." ~ Marilynne Robinson, author of Gilead
Also, of course, just discovered that the author grew up in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the youngest of 3 children, so again, not surprising that I could relate so much to his writing.
AND of course he's been compared to Raymond Carver. These reviews were almost as delightful to read as the book itself!
http://www.andrewporterwriter.com/AND...
October 14, 2015
I very much enjoyed this collection of short work.
This was John Cheever and Augustin Burroughs meets Flannery O'Connor. Porter's style and language are modern and approachable. More humanistic than O'Connor, Porter empathasizes with his cast, and there are no "freaks" only freakish situations that the multi-dimensional characters work through, some better than others.
This was John Cheever and Augustin Burroughs meets Flannery O'Connor. Porter's style and language are modern and approachable. More humanistic than O'Connor, Porter empathasizes with his cast, and there are no "freaks" only freakish situations that the multi-dimensional characters work through, some better than others.
July 25, 2011
It's ironic—some of the best books I've read have titles that are scientific or mathematic in nature, although most of the time they have nothing to do with either subject. Add The Theory of Light and Matter to the list of best books I've read, as well as those with ironic titles. What a fantastic short story collection this was!! Andrew Porter is an absolutely phenomenal writer.
I've been reading a lot of short story collections lately, and while it appears I've gotten lucky in finding some great collections, there is not one clunker in this entire book. From the title story, which tells of a college student's not-quite infatuation with her much-older physics professor, to those that chronicle everything from realizing your parents have a far more complex relationship than you can imagine to the aftermath of a friend's death when you're younger, this book hit me on so many levels. Nearly every one of these stories could be expanded into a novel I'd love to read, and it's not often I can say that. If you're looking for a great book, look no further. And if you do read it, let me know so we can discuss it!
I've been reading a lot of short story collections lately, and while it appears I've gotten lucky in finding some great collections, there is not one clunker in this entire book. From the title story, which tells of a college student's not-quite infatuation with her much-older physics professor, to those that chronicle everything from realizing your parents have a far more complex relationship than you can imagine to the aftermath of a friend's death when you're younger, this book hit me on so many levels. Nearly every one of these stories could be expanded into a novel I'd love to read, and it's not often I can say that. If you're looking for a great book, look no further. And if you do read it, let me know so we can discuss it!
January 4, 2009
This collection of marvelous short stories by Andrew Porter is one of the best books I have read in a long time. Porter's stories are spare, delicate, and beautiful. Each one is like a little gem. I have recommended this book to everyone I know and my book group. I can't recommend The Theory of Light and Matter highly enough. Every single story rings true.
August 26, 2021
Los cuentos empiezan muy tranqui, entras en clima, vas viendo a los personajes como si fuera una película y entonces boom, le cambio el ritmo el cuento, agarra velocidad y te lleva a un final nebuloso, con mucha incertidumbre. Muy loco lo que crea Porter, me gustó.
March 24, 2009
I loved so many things about this book. Some of these stories feel like little novels, others just gave me chills (but in a good way) Porter is a sensitive writer. He knows how to pull you in and get you to care about his characters. I’ve read some of the stories in this book over and over and I still can’t figure out how he does it.
April 20, 2022
Each of the ten stories in ‘The Theory of Light and Matter’ by Andrew Porter are memories of a narrator, none of them connected to each other. Each is a perfectly balanced and yet ordinary story of regular life. The narrators each recall a time in childhood or college which was pivotal in their minds or disturbing, forcing a reaction from within that disrupted each narrator's life from an internal viewpoint about themselves or people they believed they had understood until the events which they discuss. These people are middle-class, and their class added to their distress at the events which occurred in their youth. Often, it was seeing that their parents had needs and desires outside of their marriages, in other stories it was a sibling whose behavior became unacceptable and the narrator's mixed feelings never left them. Sometimes it was not knowing if this or that love is enough to justify a relationship even after a marriage and the passing of years. The writer's voice is the same in each story, always somewhat mystified, bruised, disappointed and surprised. While the circumstances related in each story are actually typical of American life and family relationships, they also reveal the ambiguous environment of feelings that most choices entail or the inability to decide how to frame a loved one's actions, even years later. I would not call these stories about quiet desperation, but more about the quiet depression and let-down of how life turns out, in spite of hopes and plans or expectations.
It is an interesting read, but not powerful. The questions that are raised are more of a thoughtful nature, where it might not be wrong or unavoidably fated how things happened, but it changed how life was perceived or understood.
It is an interesting read, but not powerful. The questions that are raised are more of a thoughtful nature, where it might not be wrong or unavoidably fated how things happened, but it changed how life was perceived or understood.
April 2, 2010
Emotionally complex, character-driven short stories that have a ring of truth. Porter's writing is spare and beautiful.
A few passages:
"...I can tell, as I watch her, that she is too discouraged, too disenchanted, too exhausted with her life, to tell anyone they can't do anything."
"I wasn't sure if I was in love with him. But as I watched him sleep I understood that I could spend the rest of my life with him. I could raise a family with him and grow old in his company. I could do all of these things, I realized, and not be unhappy."
"It is the part of me that can destroy as easily as it loves. It is the part of me that feels safest and most at home behind closed doors, in a dark bedroom, that believes that the only truth lies in the secrets we keep from each other."
A few passages:
"...I can tell, as I watch her, that she is too discouraged, too disenchanted, too exhausted with her life, to tell anyone they can't do anything."
"I wasn't sure if I was in love with him. But as I watched him sleep I understood that I could spend the rest of my life with him. I could raise a family with him and grow old in his company. I could do all of these things, I realized, and not be unhappy."
"It is the part of me that can destroy as easily as it loves. It is the part of me that feels safest and most at home behind closed doors, in a dark bedroom, that believes that the only truth lies in the secrets we keep from each other."
January 17, 2013
Truly excellent new story collection. Doesn't fall into the collection pattern of one knockout story and a bunch of ok ones. From beginning to end the stories are cleanly told snapshots of modern American life. Made me want to write some more short stories,
July 6, 2010
Short story collections are difficult to rate because as a package, the book has to work as well, if not better, than a novel. At the same time, each story is judged on its own merit. The Theory of Light and Matter works as a package, thematically, and eight of the ten stories blew me away. I was particularly drawn into Azul, River Dog and Coyotes because these stories are so unique, unpredictable and subtlely profound. Moreover, it was in these three stories that I found the narrator to be most vulnerable and inclusive. Oddly, I didn't find the book's namesake to be the strongest story at all, not because it wasn't extremely well-written but because I've read the intellectual love story, older teacher, younger student, so many times the the very concept seems cliche unless it's done with more complexity (this narrator seemed too simplistic). All in all, however, I was blown away, and I look forward to reading more of Porter's work.
April 27, 2013
Цялото ревю: http://bit.ly/17p26fu
Не знам защо толкова време се разминавах с „Теория за материята & светлината" на Андрю Портър. Сваляла съм я от рафта в книжарницата поне стотина пъти, гледала съм корицата (има нещо много красиво, много балансирано в нея). Дори съм чела първия разказ... и до там. Има нещо в тази книга, което едновременно ме привличаше и отблъскваше.
Когато най-после започнах да я чета, тя ме счупи. Сякаш някакъв огромен, стъклен бент от натрупана тъга се пръсна в мен и едновременно бях порязана от парчетата от него и отнесена от приливната вълна. Разказ по разказ, сюжет по сюжет, дума по дума, Андрю Портър съграждаше наново чувството ми за баланс и цялост. Четенето на тази книга е своеобразен катализатор на един вътрешен катарзис на собственото ти мислене за начина, по който чувстваш.
"Наивно е да мислиш, че друг човек може да те задоволи или спаси - ако между двете изобщо има разлика[...]"
Не знам защо толкова време се разминавах с „Теория за материята & светлината" на Андрю Портър. Сваляла съм я от рафта в книжарницата поне стотина пъти, гледала съм корицата (има нещо много красиво, много балансирано в нея). Дори съм чела първия разказ... и до там. Има нещо в тази книга, което едновременно ме привличаше и отблъскваше.
Когато най-после започнах да я чета, тя ме счупи. Сякаш някакъв огромен, стъклен бент от натрупана тъга се пръсна в мен и едновременно бях порязана от парчетата от него и отнесена от приливната вълна. Разказ по разказ, сюжет по сюжет, дума по дума, Андрю Портър съграждаше наново чувството ми за баланс и цялост. Четенето на тази книга е своеобразен катализатор на един вътрешен катарзис на собственото ти мислене за начина, по който чувстваш.
"Наивно е да мислиш, че друг човек може да те задоволи или спаси - ако между двете изобщо има разлика[...]"
October 1, 2012
"The hole was at the end of Tal Walker's driveway. It's paved over now. But twelve summers ago Tal climbed into it and never came up again."
'The Theory of Light and Matter' is Andrew Porter's debut book of short stories. Mr. Porter is a graduate of the Iowa Writer's Workshop and his debut collection has already received the 2007 Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction. Originally published by the University of Georgia Press, it will be republished in a much larger edition by Vintage Books in January 2010. Hopefully, it will find the audience it deserves.
The stories in this collection take place in suburbs across the country - in hallways, backyards, stairwells, schoolrooms, universities, junk yards. The collection is populated by the affluent, the impoverished, the middle class. It is a cross-current of our nation and the people who live here. There are the single, the married, the straight, the gay, the mentally ill, the young and the old. Porter is able to see deeply into the heart and culture of so many different types of lives. That is only one of the things that make this book remarkable. His style of writing is engrossing in every story in the collection. Usually, in a short story collection, one or two stories stand out. In this collection, every one is a winner; each one remains with you and takes a piece of your heart after you close the book.
'Hole' is the story of two boys who take money from an older brother to mow a lawn. During the mowing of the lawn, one of the boys falls down a hole and dies. The boy who survives spends much of his life thinking about the twists and turns of that day, trying to remember what really happened and what are figments of his memory.
'Coyotes' tells about a young man who watches as his parent's marriage falls apart. He believes that his father is a failed documentary film maker which, in a sense, he is. However, his father has serious psychiatric issues that his mother hides from their son who is too young to realize what is actually occurring.
In 'Azul', a childless couple take in an exchange student and are very poor about setting limits and boundaries for him. Since they have no children of their own, they develop a vicarious family with him, only his role in the dynamic is very indistinct. Mainly, it catalyzes latent issues that already exist between the husband and the wife.
The title story of the book, 'The Theory of Light and Matter', is about a female college student who is drawn to her elderly physics instructor who is about thirty years her senior. This is despite her being in love with a young man her own age. Initially, as the story opens, all the students in the physics class are taking an impossibly difficult physics test. The young woman is the only student who completes the test and hands it in. The professor invites her for tea and she accepts. This begins regular meetings and dates between them. The professor propels her to question herself and her life, to veer off center. Perhaps his goal is similar to Heisenberg's, to help her realize that one can't always know two determinate values at the same time. Her love for him is consuming but she gives him up for a life of inevitability and sustainability.
In a Pennsylvania village, the Amish teen-agers spend Friday evenings at a strip mall. They depart from their usual outfits and activities. The elders realize that this departure is necessary for them in order to do self-eploration. The elders hope that the self-exploration will result in more of the youngsters remaining with their families and on the farms. The local teen-agers go there to watch and interact with the Amish, the different ones. Some do this is out of curiosity, some out of meanness, some just to experiment with differentness. Other begets other as each group reinvents itself. Reinvention carries with it hubris, experimentation, fun, fear, challenge and even death.
'Skin' is a lovely tale, written in two pages, that juxtaposes life's dreams of perfection, idealism and happiness versus the truths of cruelty and pain that naturally will occur in the future.
In Connecticut, a young doctor has a mental breakdown and goes to live on an island. His wife, daughter, and son remain in their home located in an upscale Connecticut suburb. One day, the son observes his mother in an intimate act with a female neighbor and is not sure what to do with that information though he is sure that they are passionate and in love. His mother's lover leaves her and he watches his mother grieve. Years later, his father returns home and the mother becomes caretaker for him.
'River Dogs' is one of a group of stray dogs that live in tall grasses by a local town dump. The protagonist's brother is a 'stray', "not right was the term people used for him". The protagonist feels invisible and out of touch with others, sometimes like an offshoot of his brother. He hears other kids talk about his brother, stories that repulse him or about horrifying acts that his brother is said to have committed. His 23 year-old brother can not hold a job, still hangs around the high school and dates a high school girl. At one point in the book, the young brother tries to make right something that his older brother did. A man turns to him and says, "This has nothing to do with you son." But ask yourself, doesn't everything always have to do with your older brother when you're in high school, especially if your brother is a scary, geeky, freak whose shadow rests over your own?
These stories transported me. I found myself completely immersed whether I was in Texas, Connecticut, or traveling on a plane. I was inside the stories, inside the characters themselves - - of them. I loved this book and can't wait for Mr. Porter's next publication. I understand he is under contract for a novel by the Knopf Group. I will be one of the first to pre-order this novel as soon as I can.
'The Theory of Light and Matter' is Andrew Porter's debut book of short stories. Mr. Porter is a graduate of the Iowa Writer's Workshop and his debut collection has already received the 2007 Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction. Originally published by the University of Georgia Press, it will be republished in a much larger edition by Vintage Books in January 2010. Hopefully, it will find the audience it deserves.
The stories in this collection take place in suburbs across the country - in hallways, backyards, stairwells, schoolrooms, universities, junk yards. The collection is populated by the affluent, the impoverished, the middle class. It is a cross-current of our nation and the people who live here. There are the single, the married, the straight, the gay, the mentally ill, the young and the old. Porter is able to see deeply into the heart and culture of so many different types of lives. That is only one of the things that make this book remarkable. His style of writing is engrossing in every story in the collection. Usually, in a short story collection, one or two stories stand out. In this collection, every one is a winner; each one remains with you and takes a piece of your heart after you close the book.
'Hole' is the story of two boys who take money from an older brother to mow a lawn. During the mowing of the lawn, one of the boys falls down a hole and dies. The boy who survives spends much of his life thinking about the twists and turns of that day, trying to remember what really happened and what are figments of his memory.
'Coyotes' tells about a young man who watches as his parent's marriage falls apart. He believes that his father is a failed documentary film maker which, in a sense, he is. However, his father has serious psychiatric issues that his mother hides from their son who is too young to realize what is actually occurring.
In 'Azul', a childless couple take in an exchange student and are very poor about setting limits and boundaries for him. Since they have no children of their own, they develop a vicarious family with him, only his role in the dynamic is very indistinct. Mainly, it catalyzes latent issues that already exist between the husband and the wife.
The title story of the book, 'The Theory of Light and Matter', is about a female college student who is drawn to her elderly physics instructor who is about thirty years her senior. This is despite her being in love with a young man her own age. Initially, as the story opens, all the students in the physics class are taking an impossibly difficult physics test. The young woman is the only student who completes the test and hands it in. The professor invites her for tea and she accepts. This begins regular meetings and dates between them. The professor propels her to question herself and her life, to veer off center. Perhaps his goal is similar to Heisenberg's, to help her realize that one can't always know two determinate values at the same time. Her love for him is consuming but she gives him up for a life of inevitability and sustainability.
In a Pennsylvania village, the Amish teen-agers spend Friday evenings at a strip mall. They depart from their usual outfits and activities. The elders realize that this departure is necessary for them in order to do self-eploration. The elders hope that the self-exploration will result in more of the youngsters remaining with their families and on the farms. The local teen-agers go there to watch and interact with the Amish, the different ones. Some do this is out of curiosity, some out of meanness, some just to experiment with differentness. Other begets other as each group reinvents itself. Reinvention carries with it hubris, experimentation, fun, fear, challenge and even death.
'Skin' is a lovely tale, written in two pages, that juxtaposes life's dreams of perfection, idealism and happiness versus the truths of cruelty and pain that naturally will occur in the future.
In Connecticut, a young doctor has a mental breakdown and goes to live on an island. His wife, daughter, and son remain in their home located in an upscale Connecticut suburb. One day, the son observes his mother in an intimate act with a female neighbor and is not sure what to do with that information though he is sure that they are passionate and in love. His mother's lover leaves her and he watches his mother grieve. Years later, his father returns home and the mother becomes caretaker for him.
'River Dogs' is one of a group of stray dogs that live in tall grasses by a local town dump. The protagonist's brother is a 'stray', "not right was the term people used for him". The protagonist feels invisible and out of touch with others, sometimes like an offshoot of his brother. He hears other kids talk about his brother, stories that repulse him or about horrifying acts that his brother is said to have committed. His 23 year-old brother can not hold a job, still hangs around the high school and dates a high school girl. At one point in the book, the young brother tries to make right something that his older brother did. A man turns to him and says, "This has nothing to do with you son." But ask yourself, doesn't everything always have to do with your older brother when you're in high school, especially if your brother is a scary, geeky, freak whose shadow rests over your own?
These stories transported me. I found myself completely immersed whether I was in Texas, Connecticut, or traveling on a plane. I was inside the stories, inside the characters themselves - - of them. I loved this book and can't wait for Mr. Porter's next publication. I understand he is under contract for a novel by the Knopf Group. I will be one of the first to pre-order this novel as soon as I can.
June 5, 2010
A really excellent collection. It won the Flannery O'Connor Award in 2008, and it's no wonder. It's refreshing to read good stories well told, without any intentional irony or winks or nods at the reader.
The comparisons to Carver, Ford, and Cheever are well earned in these first person, mostly domestic narratives. But don't let the "domestic" settings fool you, these stories speak to something much much larger. I eagerly await Porter's next work.
The comparisons to Carver, Ford, and Cheever are well earned in these first person, mostly domestic narratives. But don't let the "domestic" settings fool you, these stories speak to something much much larger. I eagerly await Porter's next work.
March 13, 2009
Without a doubt the best short story collection I read this year. Porter is a major new talent. These are wise, compassionate stories that don’t rely on irony or cleverness. Some of my favorites include the first story “The Hole,” The Theory of Light and Matter,” and “Azul.” I would recommend this book to anyone.
March 7, 2010
Dazzling. The best collection of short stories I read in ages (though a close rival would be Maile Meloy's Both Ways is the Only Way I Want It). I've heard it takes Porter a year to write one short story; each feels labored over, the payoff is great. Quirky, insightful, beautifully written. This will be one to reread.
June 7, 2010
Iowa does it again! This is a stunning collection of short stories all about contemporary suburban America. Each one pulls you in instantly and carries you along as if you were listening to symphonic music. They all reveal some deep element of the human soul. Porter's writing is fresh, cogent and authentic. I tend to resist short story collections but this one is truly exceptional.
August 9, 2011
I enjoyed every single story in this book; no surprise, considering Porter is a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop (it may be cliché, but you know it's true). Stark, beautiful, a little bit haunting. I love how much Porter was able to convey in just a few pages with each short story. This will definitely be a re-read at some point.
June 11, 2009
There is not a single negative thing to say about this collection. Every sentence is perfect. I'm pretty sure it's the only collection of short stories I've ever read in which I could find no duds or filler stories.
July 26, 2014
From Amish communities to sleeping with professors to a fiance stranded in Spain, The Theory of Light and Matter took me on a journey. A young boy dead after falling into a sinkhole and survivor’s guilt. A childless couple hoping to fill a void by opening their home to an exchange student. A son walking in on his mother’s forbidden affair. While I couldn’t exactly relate to many of these characters, I found them all fascinating. The Theory of Light and Matter is a thrilling display of talent and I’m overjoyed that I decided to take a chance on it! Looking to get lost for an hour or two? This is the perfect escape.
For the full review and more, visit The Pretty Good Gatsby!
For the full review and more, visit The Pretty Good Gatsby!
February 28, 2010
This is a lovely set of short stories - Andrew Porter writes about the middle and upper-middle class suburbs as though American Beauty were a set of short stories instead of a film, and in which tiny tragedies can be singled out as moments that seem to be the culmination of sad and confused people living sad and confused lives. I especially rec: the first story, Hole, River Dog, Departure and Skin.
February 23, 2013
This is a breathtaking collection of stories and one of the best I have read in years. Each story is unique, haunting and elegantly written. Many focus on the the theme of memory and the truth of our experiences. Porter is a master of capturing quiet moments and presents his characters in heartbreakingly honest detail. It is unusual to find a collection in which every single story is powerful and memorable and perfectly crafted. I'm sure this is a book I will reread in the future.
November 3, 2010
I see why it was awarded the Flannery O'Connor Award for short fiction. It's a powerful book, and very experimental. All the stories here are partly memory and partly reconstruction, creating for the reader both a strange and alien world. Read more at:
http://www.suite101.com/content/andre...
http://www.suite101.com/content/andre...
August 14, 2010
I read this in one day, two sittings on the train because I couldn't stop reading it. It was an experience both exhilarating and heartbreaking. I plan to buy the book and relive it again and again. You should do the same.
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