What We’re Reading: Spectacle

Spectacle by Susan Steinberg (Graywolf Press, 2013)

Susan Steinberg’s newly released book of short stories is an edgy, experimental ride through the psyche of her meandering, tragic, hilarious, off-kilter female characters. Truly of her own class, Steinberg’s stories (and characters) are raw, bold, and colorful. Her unique writing style consciously melts from one line to the next (some stories taking the form of one giant block of text with thoughts separated by semi colons rather than periods, while others give almost every sentence its own line, running a spine of text down the left side of the page).

Loss, loneliness, questionable romantic relationships, abuse, and murky father-daughter relationships are all common threads of Steinberg’s haphazardly woven stories, told by a finicky female narrator. Nothing is ever cut and dry — these are stories that relish the search for questions, not answers. Each story, to me, feels like it could be a snatch of an image of one narrator; perhaps all loosely related stories told by one compulsive liar, where the truth is not in the words, but in the telling.

Steinberg has a way of seemingly off-handedly taking her reader on these jilted stories, but the truth of her talent lies in her pacing and build-up. She deftly balances her narrators’ off-beat humor, seemingly flippant attitudes, and burning anger with huge echoes of silence that feel like stilted confessionals, such as the end of the story “Supernova,” about a (possible) plane crash:

And once, lying in the snow, I watched as the moon moved across the sky. And I hadn’t known that one could watch it move.

And once I looked up into a face. And if I were someone else, I would tell you more. But this is not the place for adjectives. This is not the place for any words. Not even, Get up. Not even, You’re fine. Not even, It’s not your fault.

The stories circle around themselves with quirky humor and fight until they end up at these lonely, raw moments where the true reason for the story being told teases itself out. They are beautiful moments that we arrive at with a frenzied relief, thanks to the expertly paced and slightly disorienting roller coaster ride up to that moment.

Steinberg’s previously published work includes the short story collections Hydroplane and The End of Free Love, along with stories published in various lit mags such as McSweeney’s, Gettysburg Review, and American Short Fiction. She is a recipient of the Pushcart Prize, and teaches at the U of San Francisco.

What experimental fiction have you read lately that has resonated with you? Do you have an author that you respect for their innate talent to balance a story and rising action?