Is there anything better than discovering a new writer you love? I've already blogged about my newest literary crush, Julie Hecht, but I've just finished her newest short story collection, Happy Trails to You and have to rave about her again.
The same unnamed narrator from her previous short story collection Do the Windows Open? and her novel The Unprofessionals is back again in these new stories. She is still unnerved by aging, still frustrated and mystified by the modern world. Her strategies for survival remain the same: herbal remedies, veganism and avoiding people as much as possible. This collection may be a bit darker than her other works but then the world has been darker these past several years. I'd estimate that darkness to have lasted almost 8 years now, as would Hecht.
Like all of Julie Hecht's work the charm is in the telling rather than in what actually happens in these stories. If you are a fan it is because of the narrator's unique voice. Of course, that means the converse also applies. I confess I did a bit of snooping around the Internet to find out what other people had to say about Hecht. Largely they're not saying much which makes me think she's not being read as widely as she deserves to be. I also found a few people who did not enjoy her writing. At all. But that is often the case with humourous writing. People feel strongly both ways.
In these dark days of nervous publishers and countless writing programs unique voices in literature are getting harder to find. For that reason alone I think Julie Hecht deserves more attention. If you are interested in her, I'd suggest trying to track down a copy of one of her books and reading a few pages. If you like it, you'll probably like the whole book. If not, well, she's not for you. But she is definitely for me.
First line from Happy Trails to You by Julie Hecht: I owed my neighbor a visit.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment