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The Wall of the Sky, the Wall of the Eye
Jonathan Lethem again displays his brilliance in this collection of seven short stories, blurring the boundaries of sci-fi, mystery, and thriller. Tales include 'Light and the Sufferer', in which a crack addict is dogged by an invulnerable alien; 'The Hardened Criminals', wherein convicts are used as building blocks for new prisons; and 'The Happy Man', whose hapless protagonist is raised from the dead to support his family, only to suffer periodic out-of-body sojourns in Hell. Each tale features Lethem's characteristic deadpan wit and unflinchingly macabre vision of life.
232 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
37 people are currently reading
874 people want to read
About the author
Jonathan Lethem
236 books2,649 followersJonathan Allen Lethem (born February 19, 1964) is an American novelist, essayist and short story writer.
His first novel, Gun, with Occasional Music, a genre work that mixed elements of science fiction and detective fiction, was published in 1994. It was followed by three more science fiction novels. In 1999, Lethem published Motherless Brooklyn, a National Book Critics Circle Award-winning novel that achieved mainstream success. In 2003, he published The Fortress of Solitude, which became a New York Times Best Seller.
In 2005, he received a MacArthur Fellowship
His first novel, Gun, with Occasional Music, a genre work that mixed elements of science fiction and detective fiction, was published in 1994. It was followed by three more science fiction novels. In 1999, Lethem published Motherless Brooklyn, a National Book Critics Circle Award-winning novel that achieved mainstream success. In 2003, he published The Fortress of Solitude, which became a New York Times Best Seller.
In 2005, he received a MacArthur Fellowship
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 147 reviews
May 17, 2023
The Wall of the Sky, the Wall of the Eye is a collection of seven short stories by Jonathan Lethem, who is best known for his novels Motherless Brooklyn and The Fortress of Solitude. Wikipedia says these stories are science fiction, but I disagree with that. There are little to no science fiction elements in any of these stories. These are more surreal, nightmarish tales. Though the subject matter is dark, Lethem writes in an almost upbeat, positive way, so the stories rarely depressed me. There are things in here some may not want to read about, like rape, visions of Hell, etc, but generally I enjoyed the stories and they were well written.
One thing I'll say about Lethem is that I prefer his full length novels to his short stories. His short stories are often esoteric, leaving you confused and slightly unfulfilled as a result. I've said this about Lethem's short fiction before, but it always feels like he's trying to tell you something in his short stories, like they have a deeper moral or meaning to them, but I can rarely if ever figure out what that is. It's both thought-provoking and frustrating.
Overall, this is a solid collection of stories and a decent read, but it's not great. If you enjoy surreal stories you'll probably enjoy it, and if you like stories that feel like you're reading a dream, you'll be in for a treat with the final story, Sleepy People.
Ratings for each story and for the book as a whole are below:
The Happy Man: 4/5
Access Fantasy: 3.5/5
Light and the Sufferer: 3/5
How We Got in Town and Out Again: 3/5
Five Fucks: 1.5/5
The Hardened Criminals: 3/5
Sleepy People: 2/5
20/35 = 57.14% = 2.85 stars (but I'm rounding it up to a solid 3 stars)
One thing I'll say about Lethem is that I prefer his full length novels to his short stories. His short stories are often esoteric, leaving you confused and slightly unfulfilled as a result. I've said this about Lethem's short fiction before, but it always feels like he's trying to tell you something in his short stories, like they have a deeper moral or meaning to them, but I can rarely if ever figure out what that is. It's both thought-provoking and frustrating.
Overall, this is a solid collection of stories and a decent read, but it's not great. If you enjoy surreal stories you'll probably enjoy it, and if you like stories that feel like you're reading a dream, you'll be in for a treat with the final story, Sleepy People.
Ratings for each story and for the book as a whole are below:
The Happy Man: 4/5
Access Fantasy: 3.5/5
Light and the Sufferer: 3/5
How We Got in Town and Out Again: 3/5
Five Fucks: 1.5/5
The Hardened Criminals: 3/5
Sleepy People: 2/5
20/35 = 57.14% = 2.85 stars (but I'm rounding it up to a solid 3 stars)
April 30, 2018
Excellent hard-hitting tories from the genre pockets in Lethem's bag of tricks. Know what you're getting into: many of these are among the most disturbing stories I've read in a long time.
Together with Man and Cartoons, this is a must read for Lethem's fans - who'll notice the shift in concerns and style from his early novels to what would become The Fortress of Solitude.
Together with Man and Cartoons, this is a must read for Lethem's fans - who'll notice the shift in concerns and style from his early novels to what would become The Fortress of Solitude.
August 15, 2024
"The stories carried me out of myself, though I didn't exactly believe every word"- Jonathan Lethem
I love Jonathan Lethem's work, and this wound up to be one of the more startling short story collections I found myself reading. Dabbling into different genres such as science fiction, dystopian, and crime fiction, each story is startling in its rawness and power.
“The Happy Man" is a horrifying story of sexual abuse and betrayal to a family that has members losing connections with one another; "The Hardened Criminals" seems to be a tribute to crime fiction writers that Mr. Lethem has always referred to in his work; and the final story- "Sleepy People" about a woman attacked by dinosaurs with human-like traits was entertaining.
I love Jonathan Lethem's work, and this wound up to be one of the more startling short story collections I found myself reading. Dabbling into different genres such as science fiction, dystopian, and crime fiction, each story is startling in its rawness and power.
“The Happy Man" is a horrifying story of sexual abuse and betrayal to a family that has members losing connections with one another; "The Hardened Criminals" seems to be a tribute to crime fiction writers that Mr. Lethem has always referred to in his work; and the final story- "Sleepy People" about a woman attacked by dinosaurs with human-like traits was entertaining.
July 8, 2010
I've read this collection before, yes, but for some reason this edition omits two stories ("Access Fantasy" and "How We Got Into and Out of Town") that are in the other one I have, and adds two new ones I've never seen ("Vanilla Dunk" and "Forever, Said the Duck"). I think this is the "official" edition as both of the omitted stories appear in other collections now, despite having come out of this period.
I actually can't quite decide which edition I prefer. Access Fantasy is one of Lethem's finest pieces of fiction at any length, and How We Got is a good example of his old overfilled story-writing style, but Forever, Said the Duck is actually rather brilliant in its own dizzying right, and "Vanilla Dunk" is a considerably more developed long-form tale than How We Got, even making me interested in reading detailed accounts of basketball games.
Now I'm back in the familiar territory of "Five Fucks", which still crackles with weird invention on second reading.
...
And finished! "Sleepy People" is such a dreamlike and perfect story. Along with "Forever, Said the Duck" especially, it makes me recall that Lethem's biggest asset here is his willingness to just dump the reader into strange fascinating circumstances with little or no exposition. To just leave them to gradually understand, or not (also okay). Unfortunately, he occasionally feels a need for heavy Colombo-style ending exposition, which tends to overemphasize his plot points a little, but this is pretty forgivable, especially considering how vague he leaves a couple of the others.
I used to prefer the second Lethem collection to this one, but I think that was because I was in a period of seeking "serious, realistic" stories or something, not weird genre-fiction. But weird genre fiction like this is so much more inventive and memorable.
I actually can't quite decide which edition I prefer. Access Fantasy is one of Lethem's finest pieces of fiction at any length, and How We Got is a good example of his old overfilled story-writing style, but Forever, Said the Duck is actually rather brilliant in its own dizzying right, and "Vanilla Dunk" is a considerably more developed long-form tale than How We Got, even making me interested in reading detailed accounts of basketball games.
Now I'm back in the familiar territory of "Five Fucks", which still crackles with weird invention on second reading.
...
And finished! "Sleepy People" is such a dreamlike and perfect story. Along with "Forever, Said the Duck" especially, it makes me recall that Lethem's biggest asset here is his willingness to just dump the reader into strange fascinating circumstances with little or no exposition. To just leave them to gradually understand, or not (also okay). Unfortunately, he occasionally feels a need for heavy Colombo-style ending exposition, which tends to overemphasize his plot points a little, but this is pretty forgivable, especially considering how vague he leaves a couple of the others.
I used to prefer the second Lethem collection to this one, but I think that was because I was in a period of seeking "serious, realistic" stories or something, not weird genre-fiction. But weird genre fiction like this is so much more inventive and memorable.
July 1, 2013
Jonathan Lethem channeled Philip K. Dick (dead) and Thomas Disch (wasn't dead at the time) and created a solid collection of slipstream stories with this 1996 collection that, despite its initial success and awards, isn't brought up much these days when folks get to talking about Lethem's "irv".
But it should. It really should. Lethem explores the mundane and the sad and the tragic and the heroic of our everyday lives without getting all, you know, heavy. Dark, yes. Very dark, sometimes.
These are, after all, again, dangerous visions he's sometimes having, new maps of fresh hells.
Work/life imbalance is given the ol' zombie spin in "The Happy Man", pro-sports team dynamics (at ground level, they've always been just a supercharged version of office politics, let's say) is given the ol' cyborg spin in "Vanilla Dunk", the war against drugs is given an alien twist in "Light and the Sufferer", online relationships are surrealized in "Forever, Said the Duck", a one-night-stand is given the too-awful power of collapsing/distorting realit-y/ies in (a sometimes weirdly Austerian) "Five Fucks".
And "The Hardened Criminals" is an entertaining-enough prison drama that reminded me a bit of Clive Barker's superior "In the Hills, The Cities", while I dunno what the hell "The Sleepy People" was getting at, but it would've been right at home in New Worlds magazine circa 1972, which I guess was kinda the goal.
Note: Wow - it's surprising to me that it's been over seven years - probably more like a full eight - since I've read a complete cover-to-cover volume of Lethem's work (the only other time he's given credit on a backup list I've kept since 2006 is for an introduction to The Man Who Was Thursday, which I read January 18, 2007).
But it should. It really should. Lethem explores the mundane and the sad and the tragic and the heroic of our everyday lives without getting all, you know, heavy. Dark, yes. Very dark, sometimes.
These are, after all, again, dangerous visions he's sometimes having, new maps of fresh hells.
Work/life imbalance is given the ol' zombie spin in "The Happy Man", pro-sports team dynamics (at ground level, they've always been just a supercharged version of office politics, let's say) is given the ol' cyborg spin in "Vanilla Dunk", the war against drugs is given an alien twist in "Light and the Sufferer", online relationships are surrealized in "Forever, Said the Duck", a one-night-stand is given the too-awful power of collapsing/distorting realit-y/ies in (a sometimes weirdly Austerian) "Five Fucks".
And "The Hardened Criminals" is an entertaining-enough prison drama that reminded me a bit of Clive Barker's superior "In the Hills, The Cities", while I dunno what the hell "The Sleepy People" was getting at, but it would've been right at home in New Worlds magazine circa 1972, which I guess was kinda the goal.
Note: Wow - it's surprising to me that it's been over seven years - probably more like a full eight - since I've read a complete cover-to-cover volume of Lethem's work (the only other time he's given credit on a backup list I've kept since 2006 is for an introduction to The Man Who Was Thursday, which I read January 18, 2007).
May 11, 2020
3.5/5
Raccolta di racconti scoperta quasi per caso a metà prezzo su Libraccio e che, in certe parti, mi ha lasciato piacevolmente sorpreso. Ci sono picchi di maestria e abilità narrativa (Vanilla Dunk, ad esempio, con il basket metafora del postmoderno e Duri come la pietra che a mio parere è un piccolo capolavoro e dà da pensare sulla situazione delle carceri oltreoceano), oltre che continuo straniamento per le situazioni che accadono e che in "quella" realtà sono perfettamente normali. In limine tra postmodernismo, distopia e anche un po' di noir e fantascienza, questa raccolta è espressione pura di un certo tipo di narrativa americana, opposta all'essenzialità di un Carver e più vicina forse a un Foster Wallace o un Auster. Naturalmente, non tutte le ciambelle riescono col buco e alcuni racconti sono un mero esercizio di stile tanto da risultare troppo ellittici per capirci qualcosa, ma nel complesso, e anche per avere uno spaccato allegorico della società nordamericana, è una raccolta che si legge con piacere.
Raccolta di racconti scoperta quasi per caso a metà prezzo su Libraccio e che, in certe parti, mi ha lasciato piacevolmente sorpreso. Ci sono picchi di maestria e abilità narrativa (Vanilla Dunk, ad esempio, con il basket metafora del postmoderno e Duri come la pietra che a mio parere è un piccolo capolavoro e dà da pensare sulla situazione delle carceri oltreoceano), oltre che continuo straniamento per le situazioni che accadono e che in "quella" realtà sono perfettamente normali. In limine tra postmodernismo, distopia e anche un po' di noir e fantascienza, questa raccolta è espressione pura di un certo tipo di narrativa americana, opposta all'essenzialità di un Carver e più vicina forse a un Foster Wallace o un Auster. Naturalmente, non tutte le ciambelle riescono col buco e alcuni racconti sono un mero esercizio di stile tanto da risultare troppo ellittici per capirci qualcosa, ma nel complesso, e anche per avere uno spaccato allegorico della società nordamericana, è una raccolta che si legge con piacere.
March 13, 2010
This is one of the most unpleasant books I have ever read. It is vile and nasty and racist. Nearly every character that does something negative is mentioned to be a minority when that information adds nothing to the plot of the stories. Every story is awash with interesting science fiction ideas that are not explored in any way. They are just window dressings placed on top of badly formed mystery stories. Each story is like a whodunit set in an unsuccessful Twilight Zone script. Unfortunately the mystery and crime story aspects aren't even fleshed out. In one story a person who lives in his car in a perpetual traffic jam witnesses a murder accidentally recorded on tape and sets out to find out what happened. We end up finding the person responsible only to not get so much as a name for this character, let alone a motive behind the crime. We find him murdering again apparently for no reason at all, only to have the tale come crashing to an abrupt end. Every single story in this book is like that. Tantalizing sci-fi opportunities get wasted on mediocre crime fic, only to have both genres short changed. If I could give this book negative stars I would.
June 9, 2020
l'Inferno sono gli altri (cit)
Robert Sheckley, molti anni fa, scrisse un divertente libro dal titolo: “Il Difficile Ritorno del Signor Carmody” Non era facile da inquadrare, come non lo è il libro di Lethem, ma entrambi appartengono al genere fantascienza. Genere che negli anni si è molto evoluto e talmente diversificato da comprendere, a volte tutto quello che non si può definire altrimenti.
Il caso del libro di Lethem è appunto uno di questi, il suo modo sobrio di scrivere e le sue idee originali lo rendono una piacevole lettura, ma la connotazione totalmente surreale che egli dà ad ogni singolo particolare ne fanno un gioco alla caccia del genere letterario di appartenenza. C’è la cronaca sportiva, la fiaba, la fantascienza e il noir, tutto in una sola antologia, di che soddisfare il lettore esigente, direi.
“L’Uomo Felice” il racconto la cui battuta surreale d’apertura dà il titolo alla raccolta, è uno dei più piacevoli. Una sorta di giallo psicologico con un finale a sorpresa ed un’ambientazione totalmente geniale, fantascienza pura, alla Dick, per capirci. Poi c’è “Cinque Scopate” una cosa indefinibile ed avvincente che mescola la fantascienza col giallo investigativo. O, ancora “Vanilla Dunk” una cronaca sportiva che, non fosse per la peculiarità con cui il gioco viene svolto sarebbe solo un racconto come un altro sul mondo del basket. “Duri Come la Pietra” è il più cattivo, un noir della peggior specie, sullo stile di Hammett, direi. E l’idea di una prigione le cui mura sono fatte con i corpi dei criminali incalliti permane nella mente per un po’.Poi c’è quel piccolo gioiellino “Chiaro e il Sofferente” che offre un inedito modo di guardare allo spaccio di stupefacenti, e via così.
Tutto sommato direi che Lethem può dire molto di nuovo ed in maniera originale, cosa ormai piuttosto rara in letteratura, e cosa ancor più difficile, le sue storie restano in mente per un bel po’.
Robert Sheckley, molti anni fa, scrisse un divertente libro dal titolo: “Il Difficile Ritorno del Signor Carmody” Non era facile da inquadrare, come non lo è il libro di Lethem, ma entrambi appartengono al genere fantascienza. Genere che negli anni si è molto evoluto e talmente diversificato da comprendere, a volte tutto quello che non si può definire altrimenti.
Il caso del libro di Lethem è appunto uno di questi, il suo modo sobrio di scrivere e le sue idee originali lo rendono una piacevole lettura, ma la connotazione totalmente surreale che egli dà ad ogni singolo particolare ne fanno un gioco alla caccia del genere letterario di appartenenza. C’è la cronaca sportiva, la fiaba, la fantascienza e il noir, tutto in una sola antologia, di che soddisfare il lettore esigente, direi.
“L’Uomo Felice” il racconto la cui battuta surreale d’apertura dà il titolo alla raccolta, è uno dei più piacevoli. Una sorta di giallo psicologico con un finale a sorpresa ed un’ambientazione totalmente geniale, fantascienza pura, alla Dick, per capirci. Poi c’è “Cinque Scopate” una cosa indefinibile ed avvincente che mescola la fantascienza col giallo investigativo. O, ancora “Vanilla Dunk” una cronaca sportiva che, non fosse per la peculiarità con cui il gioco viene svolto sarebbe solo un racconto come un altro sul mondo del basket. “Duri Come la Pietra” è il più cattivo, un noir della peggior specie, sullo stile di Hammett, direi. E l’idea di una prigione le cui mura sono fatte con i corpi dei criminali incalliti permane nella mente per un po’.Poi c’è quel piccolo gioiellino “Chiaro e il Sofferente” che offre un inedito modo di guardare allo spaccio di stupefacenti, e via così.
Tutto sommato direi che Lethem può dire molto di nuovo ed in maniera originale, cosa ormai piuttosto rara in letteratura, e cosa ancor più difficile, le sue storie restano in mente per un bel po’.
January 29, 2020
I'd say that "Everyone has got to start somewhere" but I don't know for sure when these stories were written, except they seem to date from fairly early in his career. The collection dates from 1996 and came out after he had two published novels under his belt, but despite it winning the World Fantasy Award that year (over Thomas Ligotti and James Morrow so maybe it was a novelty thing) I don't know if this would have been published if Lethem was a brand new author . . . its got moments but unfortunately those moments can be divided into "good" and "not-so-good", with the wrong one winning out more often than perhaps you would like.
Anyone experiencing the latter day Lethem will probably be surprised at the stories here. Unlike the more place-centered work that later characterized "Motherless Brooklyn" and "Fortress of Solitude", where the stories are more or less normal with some quirky elements, at this early stage he was nothing but Prime Quirk. His first novel was a Raymond Chandleresque mystery that also featured a homicidal talking kangaroo with a firearm, so that alone should give you some idea of where his mind was at during this portion of his career.
The stories here are more or less concentrated doses of that vibe, with stories that could be construed as strictly conventional under normal circumstances but with at least really bizarre element added to them to take them off-kilter. In a way it reminds me of the stories of Kelly Link, who came along much later and tends to push the weirdness to far more bracing extremes (even if not always successfully, but I have to admire the ambition) where here it can almost feel like an affectation, something thrown in to make it stand out without feeling like there's much more behind it than that. Its not weird for the sake of weird but more like . . . weird for the sake of standing out, if that makes any sense.
Needless to say, that approach makes the stories extremely hit or miss. Even when the ideas are inherently interesting, like "The Happy Man", which posits a world where people's souls migrate back and forth from Hell on a regular basis . . . he often undoes what makes the idea interesting by inserting a completely obvious mystery (in this case, the protagonist doesn’t understand why his Hell is the way it is, even though it should be apparent to everyone reading very quickly) and then not going anywhere interesting with it, which makes me think he honestly thought the revelation was going to be a surprise.
You have a similar problem with "Vanilla Dunk", where this time we have a vague near future where basketball teams are bought out by corporations and players are given exo-skeletons that allow them to access the skills of players from years past. During the draft a white player is given the skills of Michael Jordan and predictably goes off-the-rails with arrogance. It feels more thought out than most of the stories here and yet having a white player get Jordan's skills brings the story way closer to issues of race and identity in society that this story either isn't prepared to or has no desire to address in any significant way, making it feel both slight and a missed a opportunity.
"Light and Sufferer" would be mostly passable as Lethem's idea circa the early 90s of what he thinks gangs are like if not for his insistence on adding in random aliens deemed Sufferers that look like cats dressed as snakes and follow people around for reasons that aren't explained. Without them the story is just a kind of melodrama without anything really memorable happening in it, and with the aliens its just a forgettable story with a pointless hook. However, it does have the distinction of being made into a direct-to-video film starring Paul Dano, which feels weirdly fitting.
If you're getting the idea the stories can be frustrating, that's because they are. Its like Lethem goes out of his way to sabotage himself, so that even when he has a semi-promising beginning, like with "Five F--ks", where a lover seems to make someone lose time, the story soon goes completely nuts in too short a time and leaves you with nothing much to grasp. The best I can decipher is that it’s a time-spanning reality-warping "Krazy Kat" scenario but we kind of already have that in actual "Krazy Kat" so its like the world was asking for this.
However, most people save their vitriol for "Forever, Said the Ducks" which starts out strange and then proceeds to spend pages going absolutely nowhere. The premise seems to be a couple throwing a party (virtual or otherwise) where simulacrums of past lovers mingle and interact but beyond everyone chatting for a while, no plot ever really develops and it just ends. It wasn't long enough to make me angry but unless I'm just not smart enough to grasp what he's doing its doesn't do much to justify itself.
He goes for the gritty again with "Hardened Criminals", where again the only memorable bit is the literal strangeness the title promises as a young man gets sent to a weird prison and meets his father. It does feel like he's playing more with real-life elements here (and apparently was a dry run for stuff in "Fortress of Solitude") but again the weirdness doesn't feel like anything but window-dressing. Oddly, it reminded me of Cordwainer Smith's "A Planet Named Shayol", another story set in a vicious prison that in a lot of ways is tons more savage than this story can hope to be (and was published in 1961!). Here, beyond the concept, nothing really sticks.
The same criticism could be applied to "Sleepy People", which features a tired man, a woman who is fascinated by him, her annoying coworkers and eventually maybe aliens. I don't even know and even more than the other stories it feels like he was throwing stuff at the wall to see what stuck, so nothing feels enigmatic or even holds together cohesively. The story is there and its over and you're not left with much to grasp.
Not a lot of out of the park hits if you're tallying up . . . when you only seven stories I think you need at least one masterpiece to really sell readers and the best you can see about these is that they read fast (it took me only a few hours and you probably won't be dwelling on them). For those who like to play the lottery, there's a UK version of this collection that jettisons two of the stories ("Vanilla Dunk", probably because its was too American for those cricket lovin' Brits, and "Forever, Said the Duck" because if you have the chance to remove it, why not take it?) and replaces them with two others so its possible that it makes for a stronger collection. If someone ever figures it out, let me know. But I won't be going out of my way to find out.
Anyone experiencing the latter day Lethem will probably be surprised at the stories here. Unlike the more place-centered work that later characterized "Motherless Brooklyn" and "Fortress of Solitude", where the stories are more or less normal with some quirky elements, at this early stage he was nothing but Prime Quirk. His first novel was a Raymond Chandleresque mystery that also featured a homicidal talking kangaroo with a firearm, so that alone should give you some idea of where his mind was at during this portion of his career.
The stories here are more or less concentrated doses of that vibe, with stories that could be construed as strictly conventional under normal circumstances but with at least really bizarre element added to them to take them off-kilter. In a way it reminds me of the stories of Kelly Link, who came along much later and tends to push the weirdness to far more bracing extremes (even if not always successfully, but I have to admire the ambition) where here it can almost feel like an affectation, something thrown in to make it stand out without feeling like there's much more behind it than that. Its not weird for the sake of weird but more like . . . weird for the sake of standing out, if that makes any sense.
Needless to say, that approach makes the stories extremely hit or miss. Even when the ideas are inherently interesting, like "The Happy Man", which posits a world where people's souls migrate back and forth from Hell on a regular basis . . . he often undoes what makes the idea interesting by inserting a completely obvious mystery (in this case, the protagonist doesn’t understand why his Hell is the way it is, even though it should be apparent to everyone reading very quickly) and then not going anywhere interesting with it, which makes me think he honestly thought the revelation was going to be a surprise.
You have a similar problem with "Vanilla Dunk", where this time we have a vague near future where basketball teams are bought out by corporations and players are given exo-skeletons that allow them to access the skills of players from years past. During the draft a white player is given the skills of Michael Jordan and predictably goes off-the-rails with arrogance. It feels more thought out than most of the stories here and yet having a white player get Jordan's skills brings the story way closer to issues of race and identity in society that this story either isn't prepared to or has no desire to address in any significant way, making it feel both slight and a missed a opportunity.
"Light and Sufferer" would be mostly passable as Lethem's idea circa the early 90s of what he thinks gangs are like if not for his insistence on adding in random aliens deemed Sufferers that look like cats dressed as snakes and follow people around for reasons that aren't explained. Without them the story is just a kind of melodrama without anything really memorable happening in it, and with the aliens its just a forgettable story with a pointless hook. However, it does have the distinction of being made into a direct-to-video film starring Paul Dano, which feels weirdly fitting.
If you're getting the idea the stories can be frustrating, that's because they are. Its like Lethem goes out of his way to sabotage himself, so that even when he has a semi-promising beginning, like with "Five F--ks", where a lover seems to make someone lose time, the story soon goes completely nuts in too short a time and leaves you with nothing much to grasp. The best I can decipher is that it’s a time-spanning reality-warping "Krazy Kat" scenario but we kind of already have that in actual "Krazy Kat" so its like the world was asking for this.
However, most people save their vitriol for "Forever, Said the Ducks" which starts out strange and then proceeds to spend pages going absolutely nowhere. The premise seems to be a couple throwing a party (virtual or otherwise) where simulacrums of past lovers mingle and interact but beyond everyone chatting for a while, no plot ever really develops and it just ends. It wasn't long enough to make me angry but unless I'm just not smart enough to grasp what he's doing its doesn't do much to justify itself.
He goes for the gritty again with "Hardened Criminals", where again the only memorable bit is the literal strangeness the title promises as a young man gets sent to a weird prison and meets his father. It does feel like he's playing more with real-life elements here (and apparently was a dry run for stuff in "Fortress of Solitude") but again the weirdness doesn't feel like anything but window-dressing. Oddly, it reminded me of Cordwainer Smith's "A Planet Named Shayol", another story set in a vicious prison that in a lot of ways is tons more savage than this story can hope to be (and was published in 1961!). Here, beyond the concept, nothing really sticks.
The same criticism could be applied to "Sleepy People", which features a tired man, a woman who is fascinated by him, her annoying coworkers and eventually maybe aliens. I don't even know and even more than the other stories it feels like he was throwing stuff at the wall to see what stuck, so nothing feels enigmatic or even holds together cohesively. The story is there and its over and you're not left with much to grasp.
Not a lot of out of the park hits if you're tallying up . . . when you only seven stories I think you need at least one masterpiece to really sell readers and the best you can see about these is that they read fast (it took me only a few hours and you probably won't be dwelling on them). For those who like to play the lottery, there's a UK version of this collection that jettisons two of the stories ("Vanilla Dunk", probably because its was too American for those cricket lovin' Brits, and "Forever, Said the Duck" because if you have the chance to remove it, why not take it?) and replaces them with two others so its possible that it makes for a stronger collection. If someone ever figures it out, let me know. But I won't be going out of my way to find out.
April 7, 2008
An older Lethem collection than his excellent Men and Cartoons which actually shares the finest of his stories from this period, "Access Fantasy". If intrigued by that story's brisk conceptual sci-fin noir, each of the stories in Wall of the Sky serves as another wholly different vision, with varying results. All are certainly inventive, though, and often come off as surreal vignettes into a future operating by hidden and unexplained rules.
Another of the stories was recently published in How We Got Insipid, so I can only surmise that this is being treated as if it were unknown or out of print (even though I got my cheap new copy ($3!?) at the Strand just a couple months ago).
Another of the stories was recently published in How We Got Insipid, so I can only surmise that this is being treated as if it were unknown or out of print (even though I got my cheap new copy ($3!?) at the Strand just a couple months ago).
May 10, 2010
I loved the first story in this collection, but was less impressed by the others compared to my other Jonathan Lethem experiences.
October 31, 2019
This collection of short stories is all over the place. With an emphasis on rape, whether perpetrated on a woman, a man, or a child. Way to work out your anxieties, Lethem! /s
March 14, 2021
Collezione di racconti, Premio World Fantasy 1997. Fantascienza pura. Alcuni racconti mi hanno colpito. Altri lasciato indifferente.
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January 6, 2016Book 1 of 100: Jonathan Lethem's short stories mostly disappoint.
I finished the first book of the 100 today. It was The Wall Of The Sky, The Wall Of The Eye, by Jonathan Lethem. It's a collection of short scifi stories that I almost didn't finish it at all, because of the first two stories and the first half of the third.
I had read through the first two stories, and found them disappointing: they were about on the level of a 9th-grade English student's sci-fi stories. The first one in the collection is The Happy Man, and it starts off promisingly enough with the narrator being a guy who died but for financial reasons his wife had him resurrected, so now he spends some time in life and some time in his own personal Hell. That he went to Hell is presented matter-of-factly, like everybody goes there. The man's hell is also unusual, involving a witch's breakfast, the robot maker and "The Happy Man," but where the story falls apart is in the trite, twisty-ending that I saw coming as soon as a certain character was introduced. Lethem also tries hard not to broadcast the ending by having the narrator repeatedly say that his Hell is not symbolic of anything in his life.
The second story also began with a pretty neat idea: it's the future, and basketball players are fitted with exosuits that allow them to play with the skills of some basketball great. The story picks up where a hotshot white kid has just been drafted as a rookie with Michael Jordan's skills, and one of the main characters is African-American and is offended that a white kid with seemingly no knowledge of basketball history gets Jordan. But from there, the story just became a sort of exegesis on basketball; something like 75% of the story is taken up in detailing -- with great detail -- a particular game. In the end, the story wrapped up with another twist-type ending (even good writers should try not to have twist endings. They're too hard to work into a story in anything but a clumsy manner. So that makes two things no writer should ever use: 9/11, and twist endings.).
It was the third story that almost made me quit -- two guys rob a drug dealer to get money to go to California to try to clean up. It was about as basic a version of that premise as you can get, and midway through the story I took a break to run some errands with Sweetie. I was telling her how disappointing the stories were, and said I might quit reading. We got home and were going to eat lunch and I was about to close out of the book when my eye fell on the word alien. I'd just gotten to the scifi premise of the story, where these aliens called "Sufferers" were introduced. "Sufferers" are aliens that follow people around just before something bad is going to happen to them; they're indestructible and silent, mostly.
The appearance of the Sufferer ultimately, though, proved to be meaningless in the story, and I would've given up on the book then, but I kept reading. I'm not sure why. I think there was enough promise in those first three stories to give it another try.
The next one, "Forever, Said The Duck," was better: a party made up (apparently) of computer-program versions of people a couple had met. It didn't really have any point that I could discern, and felt like maybe an encapsulation of a longer story, but at least it was interesting and not trite.
The real gem was the story "Five Fucks," which is unnecessarily vulgar, but a fantastic story: A woman meets a man and has sex with him, only to find out that she's lost two weeks of her life. She goes to confront the man and realizes that she can't live without him, even though he tries to warn her away. From there, the remaining four meetings have increasingly more bizarre effects, and the ending was one of those jaw-dropping endings that make you realize you've just read something completely original and amazing. It's what I expected more of these stories to be.
"The Hardened Criminals" also rose above the rest; not as good as Five Fucks, but clever and interesting: A man gets sent to a prison built of bricks made out of career criminals; the prisoners who are bricks are still alive somehow, and can talk and see but can't do anything else. It's a bizarre and frightening setup that doesn't pay off, but the story is still okay.
The final story, "Sleepy People," fell back into the mold of "clever idea with no reason for existing." A woman finds a man asleep on her porch, and it turns out that the man is a "sleepy person," which people say can cause plants to grow. It's never explained why there are Sleepy People or what they do otherwise, which I'd've been fine with if there was a story around it, but "Sleepy People" felt more like an outline of a longer story, or excerpts from one: there is a militia at the local bar (with no explanation ever of why there would be a militia), and people called "dinosaurs" that do home invasions (with no apparent reason for being called "dinosaurs.") The whole story feels maybe like an intro to a novel set in that world, except for the very-hurried and otherwise pointless home invasion that doesn't amount to much.
One thing I keep coming back to as I read new books is my thinking Why does this story exist? As I've said before, it's not like every story has to have a theme or message or be symbolic. But if I am reading something and I start to wonder why it exists, that's a bad sign: it means my mind is wandering as I'm reading, so an activity that is almost completely in my mind isn't even occupying much of my mind. I've read books that are so good (Salvage The Bones was the most recent) that I never stop to think why does this story exist. I think why does this story exist is a broader, harsher version of why am I reading this? It's not just that I don't like it, but that I don't like the story so much that I can't imagine the world needing it. At least two of the stories in this book -- Vanilla Dunk, (the basketball one) and Light, And The Sufferer (the drug-dealer one) were why does this story exist types of stories.
Overall, Lethem is a good enough writer that even pedestrian stories aren't bad to read. But I got the feeling these stories were only published into a book to try to get readers to buy something. This book was the third one Lethem published, after Gun, With Occasional Music, which got him a lot of acclaim, and Amnesia Moon, and it feels like it was sort of forced, as though Lethem's publisher was pressing him to publish something so he pulled out a bunch of junk he had laying around. He should've taken these ideas and either fleshed them out into good stories with a reason for existing, or just abandoned them and incorporated the ideas as bit players into some other book.
I finished the first book of the 100 today. It was The Wall Of The Sky, The Wall Of The Eye, by Jonathan Lethem. It's a collection of short scifi stories that I almost didn't finish it at all, because of the first two stories and the first half of the third.
I had read through the first two stories, and found them disappointing: they were about on the level of a 9th-grade English student's sci-fi stories. The first one in the collection is The Happy Man, and it starts off promisingly enough with the narrator being a guy who died but for financial reasons his wife had him resurrected, so now he spends some time in life and some time in his own personal Hell. That he went to Hell is presented matter-of-factly, like everybody goes there. The man's hell is also unusual, involving a witch's breakfast, the robot maker and "The Happy Man," but where the story falls apart is in the trite, twisty-ending that I saw coming as soon as a certain character was introduced. Lethem also tries hard not to broadcast the ending by having the narrator repeatedly say that his Hell is not symbolic of anything in his life.
The second story also began with a pretty neat idea: it's the future, and basketball players are fitted with exosuits that allow them to play with the skills of some basketball great. The story picks up where a hotshot white kid has just been drafted as a rookie with Michael Jordan's skills, and one of the main characters is African-American and is offended that a white kid with seemingly no knowledge of basketball history gets Jordan. But from there, the story just became a sort of exegesis on basketball; something like 75% of the story is taken up in detailing -- with great detail -- a particular game. In the end, the story wrapped up with another twist-type ending (even good writers should try not to have twist endings. They're too hard to work into a story in anything but a clumsy manner. So that makes two things no writer should ever use: 9/11, and twist endings.).
It was the third story that almost made me quit -- two guys rob a drug dealer to get money to go to California to try to clean up. It was about as basic a version of that premise as you can get, and midway through the story I took a break to run some errands with Sweetie. I was telling her how disappointing the stories were, and said I might quit reading. We got home and were going to eat lunch and I was about to close out of the book when my eye fell on the word alien. I'd just gotten to the scifi premise of the story, where these aliens called "Sufferers" were introduced. "Sufferers" are aliens that follow people around just before something bad is going to happen to them; they're indestructible and silent, mostly.
The appearance of the Sufferer ultimately, though, proved to be meaningless in the story, and I would've given up on the book then, but I kept reading. I'm not sure why. I think there was enough promise in those first three stories to give it another try.
The next one, "Forever, Said The Duck," was better: a party made up (apparently) of computer-program versions of people a couple had met. It didn't really have any point that I could discern, and felt like maybe an encapsulation of a longer story, but at least it was interesting and not trite.
The real gem was the story "Five Fucks," which is unnecessarily vulgar, but a fantastic story: A woman meets a man and has sex with him, only to find out that she's lost two weeks of her life. She goes to confront the man and realizes that she can't live without him, even though he tries to warn her away. From there, the remaining four meetings have increasingly more bizarre effects, and the ending was one of those jaw-dropping endings that make you realize you've just read something completely original and amazing. It's what I expected more of these stories to be.
"The Hardened Criminals" also rose above the rest; not as good as Five Fucks, but clever and interesting: A man gets sent to a prison built of bricks made out of career criminals; the prisoners who are bricks are still alive somehow, and can talk and see but can't do anything else. It's a bizarre and frightening setup that doesn't pay off, but the story is still okay.
The final story, "Sleepy People," fell back into the mold of "clever idea with no reason for existing." A woman finds a man asleep on her porch, and it turns out that the man is a "sleepy person," which people say can cause plants to grow. It's never explained why there are Sleepy People or what they do otherwise, which I'd've been fine with if there was a story around it, but "Sleepy People" felt more like an outline of a longer story, or excerpts from one: there is a militia at the local bar (with no explanation ever of why there would be a militia), and people called "dinosaurs" that do home invasions (with no apparent reason for being called "dinosaurs.") The whole story feels maybe like an intro to a novel set in that world, except for the very-hurried and otherwise pointless home invasion that doesn't amount to much.
One thing I keep coming back to as I read new books is my thinking Why does this story exist? As I've said before, it's not like every story has to have a theme or message or be symbolic. But if I am reading something and I start to wonder why it exists, that's a bad sign: it means my mind is wandering as I'm reading, so an activity that is almost completely in my mind isn't even occupying much of my mind. I've read books that are so good (Salvage The Bones was the most recent) that I never stop to think why does this story exist. I think why does this story exist is a broader, harsher version of why am I reading this? It's not just that I don't like it, but that I don't like the story so much that I can't imagine the world needing it. At least two of the stories in this book -- Vanilla Dunk, (the basketball one) and Light, And The Sufferer (the drug-dealer one) were why does this story exist types of stories.
Overall, Lethem is a good enough writer that even pedestrian stories aren't bad to read. But I got the feeling these stories were only published into a book to try to get readers to buy something. This book was the third one Lethem published, after Gun, With Occasional Music, which got him a lot of acclaim, and Amnesia Moon, and it feels like it was sort of forced, as though Lethem's publisher was pressing him to publish something so he pulled out a bunch of junk he had laying around. He should've taken these ideas and either fleshed them out into good stories with a reason for existing, or just abandoned them and incorporated the ideas as bit players into some other book.
March 9, 2024
In these seven short stories, Jonathan Lethem creates worlds that exist in alternative realities that are oh-so close to our own. In one, a story about two brothers who get mixed up with drug dealers in New York City sits firmly in our reality, except that cat-like aliens follow around people who are about to suffer. Another is a standard family drama, except that dead people can be brought back to life.
It was the latter that made me purchase this book. At the time, I was reading Percival Everett's American Desert — also about a resurrected man — and was struck by the coincidence. Lethem's take, titled "The Happy Man," is much darker, verging on horror, much in keeping with the other stories, which paint a grim world, or series of grim worlds, where people cope more than they live.
Many of these stories left me feeling disappointed in a way I'm still trying to define, and maybe that's unfair, as I definitely enjoyed all of them when I was immersed in them. (Well, maybe "enjoyed" is strong as some of the content is downright unpleasant.)
It was the latter that made me purchase this book. At the time, I was reading Percival Everett's American Desert — also about a resurrected man — and was struck by the coincidence. Lethem's take, titled "The Happy Man," is much darker, verging on horror, much in keeping with the other stories, which paint a grim world, or series of grim worlds, where people cope more than they live.
Many of these stories left me feeling disappointed in a way I'm still trying to define, and maybe that's unfair, as I definitely enjoyed all of them when I was immersed in them. (Well, maybe "enjoyed" is strong as some of the content is downright unpleasant.)
April 3, 2019
I went into this completely blind and I was pleasantly surprised.
November 28, 2009
Perhaps I’ve had the good fortune of reading no Lethem prior to this collection of short stories. Bereft of comparison, I’m also bereft of prejudice. Although I won’t be for long. One of his novels is next on my bookshelf.
I know that since the publication of this collection of short stories in the mid ‘90s, Lethem’s career has managed a steady evolution from more pulpy science and speculative fiction to more “literary credibility” (tongue firmly in cheek) with novels like The Fortress of Solitude and Chronic City. I’m excited to delve into more of his work. Lethem has prominently featured on my “to do” list for quite a while.
Overall, I enjoyed this collection, although it certainly is a mixed bag. As I type, I’m not sure what rating I’ll give it; I’m vacillating between three and four stars. Stories range from excellent, to not bad, to far too impenetrable to be satisfying, one or two I simply found boring, and one downright terrible: “Forever, Said the Duck,” I’m talking to you.
Of course, I can’t say I was irritated or disappointed, knowing this was early work from a writer who would significantly improve.
The collection starts very strong, if disturbingly, with “The Happy Man,” a somewhat shocking story about a man trying hard to provide for his family that also works as a fable or parable exploring the emasculating effects of modern society on the average working joe. Needless to say, take the title with a grain of salt.
The lame duck, “Forever, Said the Duck,” lies smack dab in the middle of the collection. Perhaps editor/publisher thought no one would notice it there. Strictly dialogue-driven in a terrible way, I can’t recommend anyone bother with the silly premise and absurd imagery. I’m guessing it was meant to be humorous, but either there’s an in-joke behind this story that left this reader out, or the highbrow comedy far too erudite for me to relate. Regardless, that hour of my life would have been better spent elsewhere.
While most others were merely passable or too cryptic for my taste, I very much enjoyed the sixth story in the collection, “Hardened Criminals,” which worked for me as a discussion about the tragic effects of urban violence and decay on family in a most unique and literal fashion.
Overall, Lethem’s stories are full of interesting ways to explore familiar ideas, but they also feel unpolished, a bit too crass, unadorned, coarse. While many short story writers embrace cryptic or unresolved story arcs, they also must find a way to connect with the reader. I can certainly delve into the meaning behind “Vanilla Dunk” and “Sleepy People,” but if it’s not a great story, what does it matter of it’s sending a thought provoking message?
Not a masterful collection, but worth checking out if you enjoy Lethem or speculative fiction. Keep expectations in check.
I know that since the publication of this collection of short stories in the mid ‘90s, Lethem’s career has managed a steady evolution from more pulpy science and speculative fiction to more “literary credibility” (tongue firmly in cheek) with novels like The Fortress of Solitude and Chronic City. I’m excited to delve into more of his work. Lethem has prominently featured on my “to do” list for quite a while.
Overall, I enjoyed this collection, although it certainly is a mixed bag. As I type, I’m not sure what rating I’ll give it; I’m vacillating between three and four stars. Stories range from excellent, to not bad, to far too impenetrable to be satisfying, one or two I simply found boring, and one downright terrible: “Forever, Said the Duck,” I’m talking to you.
Of course, I can’t say I was irritated or disappointed, knowing this was early work from a writer who would significantly improve.
The collection starts very strong, if disturbingly, with “The Happy Man,” a somewhat shocking story about a man trying hard to provide for his family that also works as a fable or parable exploring the emasculating effects of modern society on the average working joe. Needless to say, take the title with a grain of salt.
The lame duck, “Forever, Said the Duck,” lies smack dab in the middle of the collection. Perhaps editor/publisher thought no one would notice it there. Strictly dialogue-driven in a terrible way, I can’t recommend anyone bother with the silly premise and absurd imagery. I’m guessing it was meant to be humorous, but either there’s an in-joke behind this story that left this reader out, or the highbrow comedy far too erudite for me to relate. Regardless, that hour of my life would have been better spent elsewhere.
While most others were merely passable or too cryptic for my taste, I very much enjoyed the sixth story in the collection, “Hardened Criminals,” which worked for me as a discussion about the tragic effects of urban violence and decay on family in a most unique and literal fashion.
Overall, Lethem’s stories are full of interesting ways to explore familiar ideas, but they also feel unpolished, a bit too crass, unadorned, coarse. While many short story writers embrace cryptic or unresolved story arcs, they also must find a way to connect with the reader. I can certainly delve into the meaning behind “Vanilla Dunk” and “Sleepy People,” but if it’s not a great story, what does it matter of it’s sending a thought provoking message?
Not a masterful collection, but worth checking out if you enjoy Lethem or speculative fiction. Keep expectations in check.
April 15, 2016
Lethem sa veramente raccontare, uno di quei talenti puri anche al di fuori di influenze di padrini eccellenti (vedi Philip Dick e altri), rendendo interessanti anche le vicende meno appetibili all'apparenza (Vanilla Dunk)
Si muove tra debolezze e cadute umane col distacco dell'osservatore e l'empatia della condivisione creando la tensione che tiene in piedi la normalità e l'anomalia di esseri umani e non.
E conosce perfettamente i meccanismi del coinvolgimento, ha i tempi giusti, sa gettare i progressivi semi dell'introduzione e ti sa portare dentro lentamente fino a rendere plausibili gli eventi più assurdi pur oscillanti tra fantascienza e fantastico, questi ultimi dosati in maniera perfetta, non come una presenza altra rispetto al tessuto narrativo e psicologico dei personaggi, ma una sorta di vibrazione, una specie di perdita di sintonia momentanea della realtà, che sfora in una dimensione altra per ritornare poi a creare una nuova visione di insieme, ricomponendosi in una nuova normalità.
Il tutto accompagnato da un'immaginazione furiosa, che, se quasi sempre risulta incisiva e devastante (Duri come la pietra e L'uomo felice), a volte diventa esercizio di stile, allenamento a tirar la corda per vedere dove si possa arrivare, perdendo però il controllo della narrazione (Per sempre disse il papero), errore perdonabile visto che questi sono i primi racconti pubblicati da Lethem.
Sette racconti che anche se non hanno ancora il respiro e la complessità degli scritti futuri, risultano una preziosa palestra per il talento, per quello che porterà alla compiutezza de "La fortezza della solitudine".
Si muove tra debolezze e cadute umane col distacco dell'osservatore e l'empatia della condivisione creando la tensione che tiene in piedi la normalità e l'anomalia di esseri umani e non.
E conosce perfettamente i meccanismi del coinvolgimento, ha i tempi giusti, sa gettare i progressivi semi dell'introduzione e ti sa portare dentro lentamente fino a rendere plausibili gli eventi più assurdi pur oscillanti tra fantascienza e fantastico, questi ultimi dosati in maniera perfetta, non come una presenza altra rispetto al tessuto narrativo e psicologico dei personaggi, ma una sorta di vibrazione, una specie di perdita di sintonia momentanea della realtà, che sfora in una dimensione altra per ritornare poi a creare una nuova visione di insieme, ricomponendosi in una nuova normalità.
Il tutto accompagnato da un'immaginazione furiosa, che, se quasi sempre risulta incisiva e devastante (Duri come la pietra e L'uomo felice), a volte diventa esercizio di stile, allenamento a tirar la corda per vedere dove si possa arrivare, perdendo però il controllo della narrazione (Per sempre disse il papero), errore perdonabile visto che questi sono i primi racconti pubblicati da Lethem.
Sette racconti che anche se non hanno ancora il respiro e la complessità degli scritti futuri, risultano una preziosa palestra per il talento, per quello che porterà alla compiutezza de "La fortezza della solitudine".
January 20, 2010
Read the UK version, so no Ducks in mine.
Odd to read this simultaneously with In Persuasion Nation, which furnishes its scifi similarly (lousy jobs, desperate people beyond sadness), but which, unlike Lethem, marries style to content. I recommend the Saunders wholeheartedly; the Lethem? Two stories, maybe three.
Recommended: "Five Fucks," which, as one (and, sadly, only one) reviewer below remarks, does a kind of Krazy Kat meets Calvino thing; and "Sleepy People," which is, as the title promises, dreamlike, barring, of course, the attempted rape, which isn't so dreamy. These stories, incidentally, are the only ones told from the POV of a woman. No accident that they're the best: Lethem clearly is stretching his empathy.
Why only 3 stars? The VR/postapocalyptic thing in "How We Got in Town and Out Again" is as dated as any VR fiction. And SPOILER "The Happy Man" is yet another boo-hoo story about child rape, which, troll prophylactic, is bad, but is as cheap a way to tie together a plot and character as the Holocaust: see Hannibal Rising. "Light and the Sufferer" is a crack deal gone wrong, told from the perspective of a white Long Island college kid whose brother's gotten mixed up with the wrong (black) crowd: basically Adventures in Babysitting meets The Panic in Needle Park, mixed with a bit of Howl's Moving Castle.
Odd to read this simultaneously with In Persuasion Nation, which furnishes its scifi similarly (lousy jobs, desperate people beyond sadness), but which, unlike Lethem, marries style to content. I recommend the Saunders wholeheartedly; the Lethem? Two stories, maybe three.
Recommended: "Five Fucks," which, as one (and, sadly, only one) reviewer below remarks, does a kind of Krazy Kat meets Calvino thing; and "Sleepy People," which is, as the title promises, dreamlike, barring, of course, the attempted rape, which isn't so dreamy. These stories, incidentally, are the only ones told from the POV of a woman. No accident that they're the best: Lethem clearly is stretching his empathy.
Why only 3 stars? The VR/postapocalyptic thing in "How We Got in Town and Out Again" is as dated as any VR fiction. And SPOILER "The Happy Man" is yet another boo-hoo story about child rape, which, troll prophylactic, is bad, but is as cheap a way to tie together a plot and character as the Holocaust: see Hannibal Rising. "Light and the Sufferer" is a crack deal gone wrong, told from the perspective of a white Long Island college kid whose brother's gotten mixed up with the wrong (black) crowd: basically Adventures in Babysitting meets The Panic in Needle Park, mixed with a bit of Howl's Moving Castle.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 6, 2012
1996. Seven stories. I feel Philip K Dick muttering in the background.
Lethem is a new author for me. I read this collection of stories immediately after reading The Ecstasy of Influence because I was so impressed with his essays.
As in any collection, I enjoyed some stories more than others. Lethem has a clear voice, and dystopian world view, and I gather is aiming to reflect on our present by dipping into a not-too-distant future. Like Dick.
In "Happy Man" a father commutes to Hell and back to support his family. I guess the message being we all suffer personal Hells while alive since as far as I know nobody has yet come back to report on Hell. Clever story, well-told.
"Vanilla Dunk," "Hardened Criminals," and "Sleepy People" for my money are the best stories in the collection. No spoilers here. If you like mild sci-fi, (or are we supposed to call it postmodern? post-modern? post modern?) if you like your sci-fi over-easy with a rasher of dystopia you'll enjoy a serving of these stories.
Fun and a good intro to a very good young novelist when he was honing his craft.
Lethem is a new author for me. I read this collection of stories immediately after reading The Ecstasy of Influence because I was so impressed with his essays.
As in any collection, I enjoyed some stories more than others. Lethem has a clear voice, and dystopian world view, and I gather is aiming to reflect on our present by dipping into a not-too-distant future. Like Dick.
In "Happy Man" a father commutes to Hell and back to support his family. I guess the message being we all suffer personal Hells while alive since as far as I know nobody has yet come back to report on Hell. Clever story, well-told.
"Vanilla Dunk," "Hardened Criminals," and "Sleepy People" for my money are the best stories in the collection. No spoilers here. If you like mild sci-fi, (or are we supposed to call it postmodern? post-modern? post modern?) if you like your sci-fi over-easy with a rasher of dystopia you'll enjoy a serving of these stories.
Fun and a good intro to a very good young novelist when he was honing his craft.
November 5, 2007
I think I've mentioned before that I have a hard time knowing what to write about short story collections. I thought the quality of the work in this collection varied wildly. The first story, "The Happy Man," was haunting and scary in an icky way, and I can still recall it nearly word for word even though I read it nearly a month ago. But I thought the later stories, like "Five Fucks" (or was it only four fucks?) were not as tightly crafted. Lethem has some unusual ideas, like the story about the hardened criminals who are literally hardened into bricks and used to build prisons... but it seems like his execution on those ideas varies.
Read
September 8, 2014Like most short story collections, some are good and others are not. The Wall of the Sky, The Wall of the Eye comes out of the gate with a fury, starting off with "The Happy Man" and "Vanilla Dunk." The former is maybe the best piece of narrative fiction I've ever read about hell and the latter manages to use science fiction ideas to incisively and hilariously explore the world of professional sports. The last five stories are either mediocre or inscrutable, with "The Hardened Criminals" as the lone standout.
February 13, 2009
This somewhat clever collection of sci-fi short stories was enjoyable but not earth shaking in any way. The existentialism was a bit heavy handed, but conceptually a few of the stories were very inventive, and like I said clever(ish). I would rate this book officially not a waste of time.
October 24, 2023
The first story, The Happy Man, is deeply, deeply disturbing, but, like the rest of the stories, completely compelling. Thought provoking, moving, and unlike anything I've ever read.
December 2, 2010
FIVE FUCKS *****
September 10, 2024
I just know Jonathan Lethem was the one all his classmates dreaded workshopping—unbelievably trite and self-absorbed.
September 21, 2025
These are incredible stories, unlike anything else I have read (and at this point I've read *alot* of short stores). This is fantasy or science fiction at its most compelling; the stories put me in mind of China Mieville or J G Ballard. All are set in current time but the reality of the characters is altered in one key way - dead people can stay on earth but have to spend some uncontrollable time in a personal hell; basketball players play ball in the exosuit of now-dead stars; aliens that look like big cats follow people who are in trouble; a prison is made from the almost-dead bodies of convicts. Lethem uses a "finite artificial world" to explore themes of metaphor, accountability, escapism. These stories excited me; I couldn't wait to read the next one, which is honestly pretty rare in a book of short stories.
In "Light and the Sufferer" large, black, cat-like aliens follow drug users, and no one knows why. They cannot be killed. In fact they are drug users themselves, which is an ironic twist - the assumption is always that our encounters with alien life forms will be based on desire for domination, that the contact will mean something, that the aliens will want something profound or something valuable for survival, not drugs that are slowly killing their human users. Bizarrely society calls these creatures "Sufferers" and seems to think they follow people to help them, even though there is no basis for this. Because the Sufferers only follow addicts, their presence is a flag to the police and other users; some look at them as death angels. Lethem has stated in an interview that the narrator, other characters and the reader worry over their relevance; the story reflects on itself as science fiction and assumptions made about that genre, posing a metafictional question about the point of including aliens in a story about a hopeless drug dealer and his brother's desire to save him. The story asks whether there is anything that can prevent a train that's off the track from derailing; Light seems to be on a path of self-destruction; can his brother save him? Can something as fantastic as an alien save him?
Readers have noted that Lethem will literalize a metaphor to explore its meaning. In "The Happy Man" Tom moves back and forth between his real life with his wife and son and hell; when he is in hell, he's basically a zombie in his real life. The hell he travels to is personal (his own private hell) - he is literally going to a hell that plays out like a video game; in this hell he's a character that can make decisions, and horrors play out based on these decisions. The story begs the question: if there is such a thing as hell where we go when we die, what will it be like? Will it be the same for everyone? Or, worse, will that hell be personal, the worst possible hell for each of us based on how best to punish us for our mistakes in life? Tom escapes real life, leaving behind his wife and son who have to deal with the reality of being alive in a world filled with evil. In "Sleepy People" society has fallen apart; people are aimless, crime is increasing, society is breaking down. How much of this is because of our tendency to sleepwalk through our lives, focused narrowly on our own problems rather than seeing more broadly what is happening around us? The sleepy man, like Tom, also escapes this reality through sleeping.
In "Light and the Sufferer" large, black, cat-like aliens follow drug users, and no one knows why. They cannot be killed. In fact they are drug users themselves, which is an ironic twist - the assumption is always that our encounters with alien life forms will be based on desire for domination, that the contact will mean something, that the aliens will want something profound or something valuable for survival, not drugs that are slowly killing their human users. Bizarrely society calls these creatures "Sufferers" and seems to think they follow people to help them, even though there is no basis for this. Because the Sufferers only follow addicts, their presence is a flag to the police and other users; some look at them as death angels. Lethem has stated in an interview that the narrator, other characters and the reader worry over their relevance; the story reflects on itself as science fiction and assumptions made about that genre, posing a metafictional question about the point of including aliens in a story about a hopeless drug dealer and his brother's desire to save him. The story asks whether there is anything that can prevent a train that's off the track from derailing; Light seems to be on a path of self-destruction; can his brother save him? Can something as fantastic as an alien save him?
Readers have noted that Lethem will literalize a metaphor to explore its meaning. In "The Happy Man" Tom moves back and forth between his real life with his wife and son and hell; when he is in hell, he's basically a zombie in his real life. The hell he travels to is personal (his own private hell) - he is literally going to a hell that plays out like a video game; in this hell he's a character that can make decisions, and horrors play out based on these decisions. The story begs the question: if there is such a thing as hell where we go when we die, what will it be like? Will it be the same for everyone? Or, worse, will that hell be personal, the worst possible hell for each of us based on how best to punish us for our mistakes in life? Tom escapes real life, leaving behind his wife and son who have to deal with the reality of being alive in a world filled with evil. In "Sleepy People" society has fallen apart; people are aimless, crime is increasing, society is breaking down. How much of this is because of our tendency to sleepwalk through our lives, focused narrowly on our own problems rather than seeing more broadly what is happening around us? The sleepy man, like Tom, also escapes this reality through sleeping.
March 28, 2019
The Wall of the Eye, The Wall of the Sky contains eight short stories by Jonathan Letham:
The Happy Man
Vanilla Dunk
Light and the Sufferer
Forever, Said the Duck
Five Fucks
The Hardened Criminals
Sleepy People
Out of all of the stories in this collection, I found The Happy Man to be not only the most effective, but the most emotionally impactful, followed closely by The Hardened Criminals. Both stories involve a fractured father/son relationship that is believable and nuanced, and have no problem communicating the devastation and despair of the characters to the reader; the ending to The Happy Man stayed with me for quite a few days after reading. Also, science fiction or fantastical elements in both of these stories, while comical or ludicrous on the surface, are an integral part of the narrative, both metaphorically and literally.
Light and the Sufferer is also a serious story involving familial relationships, but the science fiction element is less of a contributing factor to the the main actions in the story itself, and in my opinion the story would be equally as strong if it were to be removed altogether.
Five Fucks and Sleepy People are more lighthearted, humorous additions to the collection. Just as enjoyable, if on a different level. Five Fucks actually made me laugh out loud at one point. Good stuff.
Vanilla Dunk is a decent read, but seeing as how it is primarily about basketball - a subject I have no interest in or knowledge of - it was a little lost on me.
Forever, Said the Duck was my least favorite of the bunch, and I think it mainly falls flat because it feels somewhat out of place. While the science fiction elements of the rest of the collection are either incidental to or a catalyst for the overriding story, in this one the science fiction element takes center stage as the focus, setting, and even character of the piece. It's a shift in tone that throws the entire collection slightly off kilter, but while it is the weakest story of the bunch thematically, it is not necessarily bad, just different.
Overall, this is an excellent collection of works by Letham, full of human frailty and the overwhelming struggle against emotional distance. I would hesitate to classify this collection as Science-Fiction, as I feel that most of the stories manage to transcend the genre, but I guess when it's this good, it doesn't matter what you call it.
The Happy Man
Vanilla Dunk
Light and the Sufferer
Forever, Said the Duck
Five Fucks
The Hardened Criminals
Sleepy People
Out of all of the stories in this collection, I found The Happy Man to be not only the most effective, but the most emotionally impactful, followed closely by The Hardened Criminals. Both stories involve a fractured father/son relationship that is believable and nuanced, and have no problem communicating the devastation and despair of the characters to the reader; the ending to The Happy Man stayed with me for quite a few days after reading. Also, science fiction or fantastical elements in both of these stories, while comical or ludicrous on the surface, are an integral part of the narrative, both metaphorically and literally.
Light and the Sufferer is also a serious story involving familial relationships, but the science fiction element is less of a contributing factor to the the main actions in the story itself, and in my opinion the story would be equally as strong if it were to be removed altogether.
Five Fucks and Sleepy People are more lighthearted, humorous additions to the collection. Just as enjoyable, if on a different level. Five Fucks actually made me laugh out loud at one point. Good stuff.
Vanilla Dunk is a decent read, but seeing as how it is primarily about basketball - a subject I have no interest in or knowledge of - it was a little lost on me.
Forever, Said the Duck was my least favorite of the bunch, and I think it mainly falls flat because it feels somewhat out of place. While the science fiction elements of the rest of the collection are either incidental to or a catalyst for the overriding story, in this one the science fiction element takes center stage as the focus, setting, and even character of the piece. It's a shift in tone that throws the entire collection slightly off kilter, but while it is the weakest story of the bunch thematically, it is not necessarily bad, just different.
Overall, this is an excellent collection of works by Letham, full of human frailty and the overwhelming struggle against emotional distance. I would hesitate to classify this collection as Science-Fiction, as I feel that most of the stories manage to transcend the genre, but I guess when it's this good, it doesn't matter what you call it.
November 9, 2020
Avevo iniziato questo libro a marzo, partendo ovviamente dal primo racconto, L'Uomo Felice.
Per diversi motivo non ho continuato la lettura e per mesi mi sono sentito di aver lasciato qualcosa di incompleto.
In questo weekend ho ricominciato da capo e letto tutta la raccolta.
Stavolta vorrei provare a fare una votazione di ogni singolo racconto presente, giusto per dare un'idea dell'eterogeneità che mi sono trovato fra le mani:
L'Uomo Felice: 5/5
Uno dei racconti più disturbanti che abbia mai letto, il meccanismo della catarsi onirica espressi con una lingua limata ed efficace.
Vanilla Dunk: 4/5
Immaginate il postmodernismo e il basket del futuro, mescolate la cronaca sportiva e una narrazione avvincente ed eccovi serviti.
Chiaro e il Sofferente: 4/5
Due fratelli che si mettono in guai sempre più grossi con gli spacciatori newyorchesi, affiancati da una presenza aliena immortale che li segue come un presagio di morte. Penso che la trama sia piuttosto eloquente.
Per sempre, disse il papero: 3/5
Una festa che mescola realtà virtuale, transumanesimo e sostanze stupefacenti create tramite programmazione al computer.
In questo caso Lethem sembra dire troppo in troppe poche righe, buttandoci dentro la mischia da subito facendoci elaborare il contesto in maniera goffa rendendo ostici dei passaggi che non rispecchiano la fluidità narrativa che lo caratterizza.
Cinque scopate: 4/5
Un'interessante allegoria che mi ricorda un po' Mr. Nobody ma fatta meglio. L'espediente narrativo viene sfruttato al suo massimo potenziale per sperimentare e creare immagini altrimenti impossibili.
Duri come la pietra: 4/5
Oh cielo. Cosa? Sul serio? Porca troia!
I dormiglioni: 3/5
Una caratterizzazione interessante dei personaggi ma nel complesso non sembra avere granché da dire. Comunque una lettura piacevole.
Considerando l'intera raccolta, direi che la consiglio. Sono felice di aver letto questo libro prima di tutti gli altri di Lethem perché in questo modo mi è chiarissima la cifra stilistica dell'autore.
Si tratta di uno scrittore che con le parole sa fare tutto ciò che vuole ed è in grado di inserire elementi assurdi con estrema naturalezza, rendendoli delle caricature della realtà spesso molto efficaci.
Per diversi motivo non ho continuato la lettura e per mesi mi sono sentito di aver lasciato qualcosa di incompleto.
In questo weekend ho ricominciato da capo e letto tutta la raccolta.
Stavolta vorrei provare a fare una votazione di ogni singolo racconto presente, giusto per dare un'idea dell'eterogeneità che mi sono trovato fra le mani:
L'Uomo Felice: 5/5
Uno dei racconti più disturbanti che abbia mai letto, il meccanismo della catarsi onirica espressi con una lingua limata ed efficace.
Vanilla Dunk: 4/5
Immaginate il postmodernismo e il basket del futuro, mescolate la cronaca sportiva e una narrazione avvincente ed eccovi serviti.
Chiaro e il Sofferente: 4/5
Due fratelli che si mettono in guai sempre più grossi con gli spacciatori newyorchesi, affiancati da una presenza aliena immortale che li segue come un presagio di morte. Penso che la trama sia piuttosto eloquente.
Per sempre, disse il papero: 3/5
Una festa che mescola realtà virtuale, transumanesimo e sostanze stupefacenti create tramite programmazione al computer.
In questo caso Lethem sembra dire troppo in troppe poche righe, buttandoci dentro la mischia da subito facendoci elaborare il contesto in maniera goffa rendendo ostici dei passaggi che non rispecchiano la fluidità narrativa che lo caratterizza.
Cinque scopate: 4/5
Un'interessante allegoria che mi ricorda un po' Mr. Nobody ma fatta meglio. L'espediente narrativo viene sfruttato al suo massimo potenziale per sperimentare e creare immagini altrimenti impossibili.
Duri come la pietra: 4/5
Oh cielo. Cosa? Sul serio? Porca troia!
I dormiglioni: 3/5
Una caratterizzazione interessante dei personaggi ma nel complesso non sembra avere granché da dire. Comunque una lettura piacevole.
Considerando l'intera raccolta, direi che la consiglio. Sono felice di aver letto questo libro prima di tutti gli altri di Lethem perché in questo modo mi è chiarissima la cifra stilistica dell'autore.
Si tratta di uno scrittore che con le parole sa fare tutto ciò che vuole ed è in grado di inserire elementi assurdi con estrema naturalezza, rendendoli delle caricature della realtà spesso molto efficaci.
May 17, 2024
I've read and enjoyed several Jonathan Letham novels but this is the first collection of short stories I have read. Some of them are like surreal dreams and some seem not entirely fleshed out. Here is a run down of the stories,
Happy Man- a man is back and forth between his family and Hell. While in Hell he appears as almost a zombie to his family. I didn't see the gut punch ending coming
Vanilla Dunk- as a Knicks fan I kind of thought it hilarious. basketball players of the future download skills of past players. A white player has Jordan's skills,hence the title
Light and the Sufferer- a gritty story,like a lot of Letham's NYC set stories. Imagine having an alien like guardian angel that everyone can see and still making the wrong choices. I constantly pictured the alien looking like Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon.
Forever Said the Duck- I still have no idea what this story was about. The closest I can guess is a couple have imaginary clones of past loves and the clones are at a party.
Five Fucks- a woman seems to alter time and future when she fucks a guy she meets in a bar. a surreal romp reminiscent of William S Burroughs
Hardened Criminals- a jail is built out of the criminals of a prison. a man is sentenced to the prison and looks for the father he never knew that is in the walls. a subplot could have been a little more fleshed out though. One of my favorites of the collection.
Sleepy People- a woman discovers a man sleeping on her porch. she is unable to revive him. turns out he is a member of a militia group holed up in a neighborhood bar. I have no idea what the dinosaur plot was meant to convey. They were blind and you'll miss them and really had no bearing on the plot at all.
overall I really enjoyed the book like all of his others I have read. If you've read him before you will definently enjoy it. If you never read him before it is a good jumping off point.
Happy Man- a man is back and forth between his family and Hell. While in Hell he appears as almost a zombie to his family. I didn't see the gut punch ending coming
Vanilla Dunk- as a Knicks fan I kind of thought it hilarious. basketball players of the future download skills of past players. A white player has Jordan's skills,hence the title
Light and the Sufferer- a gritty story,like a lot of Letham's NYC set stories. Imagine having an alien like guardian angel that everyone can see and still making the wrong choices. I constantly pictured the alien looking like Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon.
Forever Said the Duck- I still have no idea what this story was about. The closest I can guess is a couple have imaginary clones of past loves and the clones are at a party.
Five Fucks- a woman seems to alter time and future when she fucks a guy she meets in a bar. a surreal romp reminiscent of William S Burroughs
Hardened Criminals- a jail is built out of the criminals of a prison. a man is sentenced to the prison and looks for the father he never knew that is in the walls. a subplot could have been a little more fleshed out though. One of my favorites of the collection.
Sleepy People- a woman discovers a man sleeping on her porch. she is unable to revive him. turns out he is a member of a militia group holed up in a neighborhood bar. I have no idea what the dinosaur plot was meant to convey. They were blind and you'll miss them and really had no bearing on the plot at all.
overall I really enjoyed the book like all of his others I have read. If you've read him before you will definently enjoy it. If you never read him before it is a good jumping off point.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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