Catapult

by Emily Fridlund

Short stories from the Man Booker Prize shortlisted author of History of Wolves

The unknowable wisdom of a baby; two teenagers with plans to build a time machine; the unnerving relationship between a man and his dangerous dog; a bumpy reunion between two childhood friends . . . These are stories about how people grow together and pull apart, the strangeness of lives lived at close quarters. Envy, distrust, confidence, collusion, hope - in this remarkable collection, Emily Fridlund delves into the small lies and large truths that make up our lives.

Selected by Ben Marcus as winner of the Mary McCarthy Prize in Short Fiction

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Contemporary, Adult Fiction, Literary Fiction, Adult, Short Story Collection

194 pages, Paperback

First published September 18, 2017

About the author

Emily Fridlund grew up in Minnesota and currently resides in the Finger Lakes region of New York.

Her fiction has appeared in a variety of journals, including Boston Review, Five Chapters, New Orleans Review, New Delta Review, Chariton Review, The Portland Review, and Painted Bride Quarterly.

She holds a PhD in Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Southern California. Fridlund's collection of stories, Catapult, was a finalist for the Noemi Book Award for Fiction and the Tartts First Fiction Award. It won the Mary McCarthy Prize and will be published by Sarabande in 2017. The opening chapter of History of Wolves was published in Southwest Review and won the 2013 McGinnis-Ritchie Award for Fiction.

Reviews

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I struggled through finishing this collection. I enjoyed the short story "Gimme Shelter" and otherwise had a very hard time liking or caring about what happened to the characters of the other stories. I'm all for not so likable and complex characters, but when all of them are detestable and you only have a few pages with each of them, the theme begins to get old quickly. The female characters especially all seemed to be slightly varied versions of the same cold, self sabotaging, and vindictive woman without any redemptive qualities. It got to the point where I could predict some of the actions of the women just based on earlier stories.

I was disappointed that this fell a little flat for me. This collection is bleak, one note, and does not let up at any point.

[Constance · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel that it's a disservice to read Fridlind's stories one after another. I think it would be better to savor each for a while because there is so much to appreciate about each one.I loved her novel, History of Wolves and hope she writes many more.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been in a short story collection mood for a month or so now, and this was phenomenal. Every story was weird and vaguely unsettling. Fridlund's prose is meticulous and eerie. Absolutely recommend.

[Erica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Giving this a three as the prose itself is good and I liked some of the earlier stories. But I just lost interest in the second half, and that could have partly been impacted by personal circumstances that just didn't have me in the mood to read. But I just wasn't connecting to the stories.

[Marcia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some people call these depressing but I just think they’re very real.

[Jan Priddy · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are stories without easy answers. These are stories that offer no answers at all. They offer divorce and sex and loss and love and longing and the real life foolishness and failures of genuine people. If you loved History of Wolves, you will likely love this book too. These are stories about ordinary people, usually in first person, as often from the perspective of a man as a woman or teenaged girl. They are very smart and my failure to actually love them myself is likely my own failure, some temporary inability to go there.

Someone else calls the collection "bleak." I am afraid I found it so. No one is going to break out of their willful sadness, no one will build a better life, no one will spark joy in someone else without being relieved when it is over.

It stays on my shelves, which most do not. I will likely reread it.

[Brandee Shafer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an incredibly depressing collection of stories, but the details are so razor-sharp and startling that I kept wondering how a person makes them up in her head. Fridlund also has a knack for writing super profound one-liners.

[~ Cheryl ~ · Rating 2 out of 5]

CATAPULT: The Stories

“Expecting” -- Perfect short story about a household adjusting to the mother’s sudden departure. Sad and vivid. So much story told in such a small space. Wonderful writing. 5 stars

“Catapult” -- Recounts the summer a misfit 14-year-old girl and her boy neighbor spend constructing various vessels together, for fun. Some heavy themes, and snarky commentary about Christianity. 3stars

“One You Run From, The Other You Fight” -- Follows an unmarried (and it seems, slightly unhappy) couple as they attend – crash? – several graduation parties in a single day. I’m still not sure if they were invited, or posing as legit guests. Weird and kind of sad. 2 stars

“Marco Polo” -- A newly married couple cope with differing sleeping habits. This one explores how a small dysfunction can lead to bigger divides. More pitiable than insightful.
2 stars

“Gimme Shelter” -- Disjointed story of a woman’s childhood in an old, dilapidated farm house. Her memories are given in bits and pieces, and you get the idea both you (the reader) and she are putting the picture together as you go along. Not done well enough to be effective. 2 stars

“Lock Jaw” -- A man recounts episodes in the life of his family since they’ve gotten their dog, while he’s out in a snow storm looking for her. Had potential at the start, but ultimately became confusing and over-written. 2 stars

“Time Difference” -- Small window into the life of a young woman who now lives a couple of time zones away from her home town. Bleak, but fairly well-written. 2.5 stars

“Lake Arcturus Lodge” -- The story of a couple’s experiences attracting guests to their lakeside lodge, which they open not long after they marry. Taut and controlled. A good one.
4 stars

“Here, Still” -- A woman tries to reconnect with her old best friend, whom (she admits in the first sentence) she’s never liked much to begin with. Good writing; depressing content. 3 stars

“Old House” -- A couple meet as tenants in a boarding house. He is in his early 20s; she in her late 30s. They’re relationship is clearly, if not toxic, just a bad idea. Making matters worse, they take to ridiculing the elderly landlady for sport, both to her face and behind her back. Good grief this was dark. 2 stars

“Learning to Work With Your Hands” -- A teenage girl shares her account of the time her ailing Grandpa was moved to a nursing home, her mother moved out, and her neighborhood was being bought out by big-wig developers constructing fancy houses and a golf course. Not a bad story, but pretty somber. 3 stars



MY THOUGHTS:

There is not a glimmer of hope to be found in any one of these stories. I do not require “uplifting” in order to enjoy a reading experience. Fridlund’s novel History of Wolves is a good example—pretty bleak, but an excellent book.

Fridlund is a capable and bold writer, even if I did find a few of the stories to be disjointed. Her observations are brutally honest, and she writes believably from both a male and female perspective. But so much of the content was unrelentingly gloomy, and worse, vaguely repetitive.

I had high hopes for Catapult, both because of my enjoyment of History of Wolves, and because the first story in the collection was such a stunner. Yet I struggled to finish it. The more I read, the more the situations and characters seemed recycled. Bite-sized misery after bite-sized misery. Fridlund seems to know just one note. She may play it well from time to time, but that unvarying tone does get tiring.

[Xander Kennedy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fridlund has an ability to present routine thoughts and actions as significant. I am regularly enthralled by this talent. There are not really BIG EVENTS in these stories and yet they are absolutely noteworthy and impactful to the characters and, by extension, the readers.
Perhaps my biggest compliment to Fridlund would be that I exit her tales wanting to put pen to paper, wanting to try to emulate her style in my own writing.
With that said, at times these stories feel like a bit of a slog to get through. I think that is in large part because there is very little happiness to be found within. As I progress through this book I get to travel from one minor crises to the next; from one little heartbreak to a frustrating indecision to a relationship crumbling. This ends up feeling rather draining.
A History of Wolves was my very favorite read of 2017 and that had a similar tone to these vignettes. I think, though, it was easier to absorb the dull ache and pervasive sense of dread in that tale because we were charting one character's journey and it did contain some layers of emotion. Catapult, instead, feels like walking into a room full of strangers and everyone that you meet decides to share a little tale of woe. Admittedly, they do it in a beautiful way, but nonetheless you are left exhausted by your empathetic efforts.

[Sasha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved History of Wolves when I read it a couple years back and I went into this collection of short stories with relatively high expectations. After trying to read this last year and struggling to get through even the first half, I gave it a second go in the hopes that the issue had been on my end. Unfortunately, most stories and the collection as a whole fell kind of flat for me. Fridlund's writing was beautiful and haunting, as expected, but overall the stories have proven fairly forgettable. Aside from "Gimme Shelter" and "Lock Jaw" I found that many of the stories and characters have blended together in my memory. An average experience, I think I'll stick with Fridlund's novel-length stories in the future.

[Brandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

You’re going to want a shower after this one. She’s good but dark dark dark. Italian church paintings of hell are cheerier than this selection of short stories that leave gothic behind as they head toward grotesque or even horror in a couple places. (Is Northern Gothic a thing? This might make it one.)
As in History of Wolves there is no mincing of words. She gets right to the heart of what’s wrong with every one of her characters and does her best to make sure you love none of them. But you understand them. You know them. And you wish they would make better choices. Well worth the read if you have a strong stomach as a reader. I’d take this one in sips not gulps.

[Sloane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really great read about relationships — their volatility, their unpredictability, their nuances. Her characters are all so human, weak in their own ways and looking in the wrong places for quick fixes. I really enjoyed the voices Fridlund captured and found myself flying through this collection.

7.5/10

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved, loved these short stories. I enjoy short stories in general, but rarely do I find a collection where every story speaks to me in a unique and touching way. This was that for me. Highly recommend. I want to read it again, and I'm not a big re-reader.

[Nate Hawthorne · Rating 3 out of 5]

The collection of stories is a dense read, but worth the time to unpack these characters.

[Becky Loader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ah, such wonderfully crafted short stories! A real pleasure.

[Crystal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bleak and miserable stories about the mundane.
I like it, Picasso.

[Natasha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rounded up from 2.5.

[Quinn]

DNF page 115

[Lesley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fridlund is an amazing writer and these short stories are full of her complex characters and their stark humanness. I'm looking forward to her next novel.

[Greg Bem · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really great collection of stories dealing relatively directly with family and familial identity. Relationships are big in these stories too. I found the feminism and female independence in these stories approached from both the female and male perspective, which was refreshing. As Ben Marcus says in his introduction, the stories a really quite smart, and I'd have to agree. A subtle attention to detail makes reading this collection a fairly intellectual endeavor--a bonus to the generally awesome storytelling.

[Luke Hillier · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was initially drawn to this collection by its stunning cover, but after seeing that History of Wolves had better reviews I opted to start there with Fridlund's work. That ended up being my favorite read of 2018, so I was eager to start the new year off with another exploration of her work. While this didn't leave me as breathless as "Wolves" (which benefited so tremendously from its ability to slowly build, an asset innately lacking in short stories), I found myself similarly enthralled by these grim, peculiar installments.

Fridlund writes with a severe precision, never wasting a word and somehow imbuing a matter-of-fact poetic lyricism into her deadpan, staccato onslaught of wry observations and dark confessions. Each story is fraught with tension (beckoning the catapult of the title), plunging us intimately into the decidedly cerebral minds of the characters, all of whom are mired in relationships that are both relatably and bizarrely complicated, most often by a taut push-and-pull dynamic of unrequited and sometimes simultaneous repulsion and attraction. There are other consistencies laced throughout: specters of various addictions, Midwestern myopia, the disarming and juvenile nature of faith, and a rotating cast of animals offering windows into their unexpected majesty and mirrors reflecting back our own innate feral qualities. While each story is grounded in reality, they take on a nearly nightmarish atmosphere; absurdities are occasionally woven in without mention, taken for granted in the moment only to startle us in retrospect (like a preternaturally judgmental newborn, the appearance of a bear in a stranger's kitchen, or a slew of preteen girls hanging upside down from trees two stories tall).

Honing in for some closer looks, I found the titular story to be the stand-out and in some ways a peer to "Wolves" thematic inquiries around faith and the tension between belief and action. I also found the protagonist especially fascinating. "Marco Polo" feels, to me, the most representative of this collection's themes and is written in a way that expertly escalates what's in reality a petty dilemma to heighten the marco-polo/cat-and-mouse dynamic of the couple in that story and a number of others here. "Old House" was, for me, the most disturbing; of course all of these have dark and twisted elements, but that one was given a climax that made me feel like the mud splashed up onto me where most others ended with restraint. I loved the familial elements of "Time Difference" but wish they hadn't been so understated. "Expecting" and "One You Run from, the Other You Fight" are the heights of Fridlund's peculiarity, which is the closest thing it gets to fun. "Learning to Work with Your Hands" was the weakest for me, it didn't feel as cohesive, and though it was especially gorgeously written, I didn't adore "Lake Arcturus Lodge" mostly for the period-piece element. An absolutely stellar collection overall.

[Kendall Concini · Rating 2 out of 5]

#readingchallenge2019 (my book with a C)

Fridlund’s collection is comprised of dramatic, complex short stories; with no overlapping connections.

She has a skill for crafting depressing dense relationships-where despite the short amount of pages per story, there is immense attention to characters’ details, however I didn’t find the stories interesting as a whole. Overall, I felt the first half of the stories were strong, but few held my attention-worse…as the novel went on, I found myself even less invested, skimming more
First Tale: was darker than it appeared. There was an airy lightness surrounding the topic of a baby; a heartwarming tale about a father and son separate, yet bonding when the mother leaves. Yet, the chapter becomes much darker-provoking a thought-are they really bonded, or is the baby a strangeness

Catapult: Bleg-an angst-filled teen with no development

Sarge: dramatic, meant to be a dark comedy with no punchline

Marco Polo: no development or resolve, just punches pulled

Gimmie Shelter: no purpose, just lost stories shuffled together, like unorganized pages

Lock Jaw: skimmed most of it

Time Difference: the concept didn’t sink in

Here, Still: almost relateable, but falls off

Old House: didn’t make it through

[Mel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intoxicating glances at the lives of mostly horrible people. It's an incredibly weird amalgamation of nostalgia and hope twisted around and wrapped up into a semi-decent presentation. But the experience of reading these stories is like not being able to look away from a gunshot wound or a car accident- it's abnormally fascinating despite the nausea that ensues.

Would I recommend? Unlikely. Depends on whether or not you're up for the bizarre ride. Fridlund's stories compare to the strange aspects of Eat Only When You're Hungry and have the potential of the complexities in Everything I Never Told You.

[Joseph Richmiller · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this up on a whim (the cover caught my eye). The insert describes it as being tragic and comedic, composed of odd characters whos machinations fall under a giant literary magnifying glass. Reading this was like watching an episode of Seinfeld without the laugh track. It lacks cues to be comedic, instead it's pages are filled with fleeting glimpses into the tragic lives of its characters. Picking their brains stops being fun quickly, it becomes draining to read. I enjoyed Lock Jaw and Here, Still the most. I found the prose to be delightful and unique, it was the only reason I finished the book. Judging from others reactions I plan on reading A History of Wolves at some time and would recommend everyone start there and visit this collection only if they have a enjoy the authors style- the actual stories are well written- yet condensed and not fully realized.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think in the end I will find this collection utterly forgettable, which is a shame, because her writing is striking, particularly her metaphors and similes. And the stories are powerful, often leaving one with, well, a sense of despair at the end. However, she is NOT a plot-driven writer, so many of the stories begin to blend into one another. And so here we are.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous, aching. Exactly what I needed. Richly written and human beyond a doubt. Sometimes short stories can feel like they're cut short but each one of these was like a little truffle. I loved each one.

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved A History of Wolves and immediately went out to find this short story collection. There's a similarity. Ordinary people in the midst of strange, unsettling situations...mostly behaving badly, or selfishly or cruelly. Though the stories are short, these characters have pasts that mark them, and filter up through memories or snatches of conversation. Fridlund seems to understand the human psche, its perversions and longings. She gets males and females, babies, adolescents, middle aged and old people. She doesn't develop these characters the way she does the characters in History of Wolves, there isn't time or space enough, but she catches something of what drives them the way a dream can. Her sentences are extraordinary. On the first page of the first story, "Expecting," some one far bolder than I am (I dog-ear sentences I like) has circled the sentence "It is easy to be wrong about a person you are used to.) Whether the author meant that sentence to have so much heft, I'm not sure, but one reader certainly had it ringing in my head as I watched other characters in other stories fail to connect or understand each other. There are weirdly wonderful impossible snatches of conversation throughout. I loved the sentence "Come on." at the end of this story. You just have to read it to understand why. That sentence too became a whispered undercurrent as I read.

I loved the importance that moments in childhood can assume. I remember that. So many came rushing back to me as I read this book. How strange it was to HAVE to be the polio victim in the refrigerator box (iron lung) when we played hospital because my two friends were a year older and told me that's the way games worked. One of my favorites was The Arcturus Lodge. Unlike any of the other stories, it takes place in the past, 1923, to be exact. The narrator and her husband, Erich, leave the old country and go to Minnesota to open hotels. Eventually, Erich convinces his wife to open a lodge in the woods of Minnesota. She wants to advertise. His reply, "People will come when they do." "But what for?" ...It was as if he refused to understand the basic machinery involved in being human, how one thing led to the next. They have long term guests who fight at night. The wife shouts, "You are unnecessary to my happiness." Erich and his wife can't get pregnant. Ahe assumes it's her fault. The story unravels from there. It's so weird and wonderful.

"The thing that characterized those years for me was that I wanted an A from everybody, in all contexts." "We were our professors favorite students because we tried too hard to prove we belonged...our intelligence wasn't intelligence at all but an acute sensitivity to the expectations of others....I was still the guy who wanted, in some aching irrational way, an A in everything anyone asked of me.

This is from her acknowledgements at the end of the book: "This book owes its deepest debt to my family...this book comes out of a commitment I learned, at an early age, to care fiercely, while never forgetting to honor ambivalence, too, and its curious exploration of the many, many possible outcomes to every story.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's a bit from the story "Lake Arcturus Lodge" in this collection:

The longer the place sat empty the harder we tried, until everything started seeming like an instance of decoration. In those first days, I floated lupine petals in the water basins, arranged butterscotches in bowls. I knew tea roses would die, but I planted them anyway, in a daze of hopeless opulence and inevitable waste."

Fridlund's book is a little like that—you can feel the very deliberate and care-filled authorial choices as you move through the stories, and those sometimes feel ornamental and Baroque where Shaker might do. But there's no denying that they're good choices, and Fridlund may be flaunting her craft but it's not altogether a negative experience, and I found myself writing down particularly pretty or striking passages the whole time I was reading. The book's slimness works in its favor too here. In the end it felt a little like travel—the world looked different when I was finished—which is not a bad thing either.

[Sarah Flynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I only rated this book 3 stars. I honestly found it puzzling. The characters all seemed to have a profound lack of passion. There was nothing that they got super worked up about. The only strong show of emotion I can remember is when the little boy was mauled by the dog- he was sobbing when his dad found him. But otherwise, the stories were a parade of breakups, deaths, goodbyes, and disappointments that the characters just drifted through like passive spectators. Maybe that was the point- maybe that's a statement on how confounding life can feel at times, like we're just watching a drama play out that we have no control over. If so, the statement was made very effectively. But to me it felt like a deep lack of love and connection: parents were indifferent to kids, kids to parents; spouses indifferent to each other; lovers indifferent to each other; best friends, indifferent; even the dogs were fairly indifferent. The overall effect was a bit bleak. It was like a book about people who were only about 60% human.

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nineteen - year old boy whose mother has just left his father gets his girlfriend pregnant and she moves in creating a family with the two bereft men. A fundamentalist Christian fourteen year old boy left home all day by his working parents during summer break spends his days with a fourteen year old girl who is willing to help with his astrophysics theories so long as they can be naked in bed and she does not have to believe in God.

The stories in this collection often feature a stand of pines just near a suburban development or a lake that yields fish to the men who go there during winters which are hard. Minnesota landscape and customs set the tone in these harsh tales. The writing is sure and brilliant, creating characters so real they could be in the next room and dialogue true and tragic with occasional wit.