The Mookse and the Gripes discussion

The Things We Don’t Do
by Andés Neuman
translated from the Spanish by Nick Caistor and Lorenza Garcia
Argentina



Playful, philosophizing, and gloriously unpredictable, Andrés Neuman’s short stories consider love, lechery, history, mortality, family secrets, therapy, Borges, mysterious underwear, translators, and storytelling itself.

Here a relationship turns on a line drawn in the sand; an analyst treats a patient who believes he’s the real analyst; a discovery in a secondhand shop takes on a cruel significance; a man decides to go to work naked one day. In these small scenes and brief moments Neuman confounds our expectations with dazzling sleight of hand.

With a variety of forms and styles, Neuman opens up the possibilities for fiction, calling to mind other greats of Latin American letters, such as Cortázar, Bolaño, and Bioy Casares. Intellectually stimulating and told with a voice that is wry, questioning, sometimes mordantly funny, yet always generously humane, The Things We Don’t Do confirms Neuman’s place as one of the most dynamic authors writing today.

-After reading his coda to this collection, I realized that Neuman is the rare storyteller who not only understands but also feels how to go about his job. He takes it seriously because it’s part of what keeps his own heart beating. I went back and admired his work even more. ~Trevor Berrett in The Mookse and the Gripes

-Neuman’s forte is observational philosophy. On occasion, this means too much technical analysis of the emotions while his storylines are suggestive and implicit. The autobiographical pieces which allude to his East European Jewish-Argentine roots come nearest to a satisfying narrative. The sketches of totalitarian politics may be the most accessible but the more abstract jottings compliment them well. ~Joseph Crilly in The Irish Times

I loved Traveler of the Century and hated Talking to Ourselves. I didn't quite know what to expect with The Things We Don't Do, but it ended up reestablishing my faith in Neuman, looking forward to whatever comes next (do we know what's coming next??).

The collection of stories here is not a conventional collection of stories. While I usually dislike authors using the short form as "practice" or "exercise," that's just what Neuman is doing here, only he's doing it extremely well. He understands the short story form, so his experiments to not feel like stepping stones to some supreme novel. Rather they are experiments with the short form, subverting our expectations frequently. While some are probably disposable, many are strong in their own right.

That said, I was still surprised to see this on the longlist, despite the BTBA's history of supporting unconventional books, and I don't think it will go all the way to the shortlist. Not that I'd be upset if it did.

I loved his Maxims for the Post Modern Short Story. Examples:

"In the opening lines, the life of a short story is at stake, in the last lines its resurrection"

"The resolution of the plot and the end of the text keep up an invisible tug of war. If the first prevails, the structure will tend towards Poe. If the second prevails, it will tend towards Chekhov. If the result is a tie, something new might arise."

"From the story with a twist to the story with a doubt."

"revise.reduce"

But I didn't feel that the stories consistently lived up to them.

Also one of his maxims I fundamentally disagree with

"the extreme freedom of a book of short stories derives from the possibility of starting from zero each time. To demand unity from it is like padlocking the laboratory."

To me if a short story collection doesn't form a coherent whole then why publish them all in one book. May as well mix them with stories from other authors. A personal, and perhaps irrational, prejudice I know but counted against the book for me.

Still it wouldn't upset me to see it on the shortlist either.

Trevor wrote: "I loved Traveler of the Century and hated Talking to Ourselves.

I picked up Talking to Ourselves and read like a third before ditching it. I might check out Traveler of the Century if a fellow Talking hater liked it.

Evan wrote: "I picked up Talking to Ourselves and read like a third before ditching it. I might check out Traveler of the Century if a fellow Talking hater liked it. "

I would certainly add a vote to massively preferring Traveler of the Century to Talking to Ourselves. Don't give up on the former because of the latter - very different novels.