Pilgrims

Pizazz is the word that comes to mind after reading the short story collection Pilgrims by Elizabeth Gilbert. These are twelve stories that chart the paths of various oddball characters across disparate landscapes through eccentric and unpredictable situations and adventures. In the title story, Pennsylvanian Martha Knox gets a job as a ranch hand in Wyoming and challenges the cowboy narrator to run off with her across the Rocky Mountains. In “Elk Talk,” Jean and Ed, living on a remote property at the edge of the Wyoming wilderness, have taken in Jean’s nephew Benny after an accident has rendered Benny’s mother comatose. On Halloween, with Ed away at a conference, Jean and Benny meet their new neighbours, the Donaldsons, and as the eerie and unsettling encounter unfolds, Lance Donaldson successfully demonstrates a device that mimics an elk’s call. “The Many Things That Denny Brown did not Know (Age Fifteen)” (one of several tales with a cumbersome title) tells the story of naïve teen Denny Brown, whose frequent confusion regarding the behaviour and motives of the people around him, including his parents, actually comes to seem like a sort of savant wisdom. And “The Famous Torn and Restored Lit Cigarette Trick” revolves around the volatile and erratic temperament of Hungarian immigrant Richard Hoffman, his long involvement with his brother-in-law, magician Ace Douglas, Douglas’s magician/flautist daughter Esther, and a rabbit named Bonnie. Gilbert writes prose that never seems to stop moving. Her stories vibrate with a kind of dynamism, events tumble over each other and off the page. Undeniably entertaining, these stories are also witty and crammed with detail. Readers will notice that Gilbert sometimes uses elision to move her plots forward, skipping years of a character’s life in order to get to the part that interests her, ie: “She was married to him for forty-three years, and then he died of a heart attack.” – from “The Finest Wife.” There is also an aspect of the writing that can seem to some extent random: occasionally, in her rush to enumerate the events of a character’s life, the events themselves can seem plucked out of thin air, listed perhaps for shock value or humorous effect but adding little to the story or our knowledge of the character. The extraneous detail can be a distraction, since you believe it will be relevant later, but then it isn’t. Still, this is an impressive collection from a writer whose career since the publication of this debut volume has been one triumph after another. ( )

These are well written stories, and well read on the audio CD version. They're diverse in their story lines and sometimes funny. I had a consistent problem with them, though. And maybe it's just me, but after each story ended I thought, "and then what?" It's as though Elizabeth Gilbert opens the door to a little drama unfolding and then closes it before the drama plays out. For those who like to exercise their imagination, this book would be pleasurable. For those (like me) who like a bit more closure to a story, not so much. ( )

Unique, tough and real characters populate this rather quirky book of stories that all seem to fairly vibrate and hum with a rich and powerful sense of place. She captures beautifully the innocence and tenderness possible from a clueless 15-year-old boy as deftly as the defensive irascibility of a Montana woman who receives a visit from unexpected neighbors while her husband is away. I was repeatedly struck by the economy of her prose, something I aspire to but rarely achieve in my own. Will probably have to re-read these several times to really absorb everything that is going on in them. Unusual, unpredictable and quite enjoyable. ( )

This one started badly. I wasn't interested in the first 5 or 6 stories - just didn't see the point of them, including the title story - and ended up putting the book down for a couple of weeks. After picking it back up though, I was pleasantly surprised. She writes characters that you just have to like, even when you're hating what they're doing or otherwise cringing about their behaviour. A good read, if you can get past the first few tales. ( )