I HAVE THE ANSWER – KELLY FORDON

Book Review of I HAVE THE ANSWER – KELLY FORDON

Kelly Fordon’s collection of short stories “I Have the Answer” speaks about the unexpected losses that life throws at us like deaths of spouses and youngsters, family secrets, hidden heroism, unwanted advances, and love that takes surprising forms, with perception and humour. In these philanthropical stories, the solution is to be found in life itself, in living as an act of courage, and living as an art form.

In the story “The Shorebirds and the Shaman” Corinne, who is handling the unexpected loss of her husband Ethan, goes on a trip to a place populated by therapists. She is pushed into doing Constellation Work, role-playing family relationships. Initially cynical, she finds herself thrilled and discovers that she is in a position to imaginatively transform the experience into something liberating.

A girl who is both fascinated and fend off by the movie ‘The Exorcist’ goes to a dorm room in a building featured in the movie. Confused between what she has been taught by the church and her own natural curiosity, she comes face to face with her own torment. The story concludes during a straining scene during a church confessional.

“How It Passed,” is a story told from the communal point of view of a locality of moms. It archives, year by year for sixteen years, a chatty group that only realizes how little they know one another once they attend the funeral of 1 of the husbands. And as one reads on, one realizes what these people do is just following blindly the well-lit and poorly-inspected path that was laid before them from their births.

While mainly serious, the stories are sprinkled with humour, especially as she relates one of them to the parenting of teenagers. In “Superman at Hogback Ridge” a father and his son go against a baldheaded, with sudden violence on the road.

“Afterward” is a sort of interwoven story, one part is the death by overdose of a mother’s eighteen-year-old son, one part about the waves, inspired by the Virginia Wolff book by the same name. The story is moving and reasoned, the fashion mirroring the rawness of emotions. This story has the perfect title, suggesting this a woman’s journey toward the life that must continue after this death.

In “Why Did I Ever Think This Was a Good Idea?”, a lady struggles with her soon-to-be-empty shell. Her life revolved around raising her children, and therefore the story tells us that she gave up her dreams of being an artist for focusing on them. Her inattentive husband fills his days with golf and she, to her dismay, bumps heads together with her youngest who will be leaving soon for a “gap year” in China. She loved him the most as a baby but, during a moment of nostalgia when in her untidy art studio, she dances to ABBA’s “Dancing Queen” she discovers her son watching her dance. Children are often beautiful but also rude sometimes, and on seeing her dance the son simply says and I quote, “You look sooooo stupid, Mom,” and then walks away, erasing her fleeting joy instantly.

Fordon’s stories are a wonderfully convoluted look into life and the way our expectations can raise against our realities. The stories are thought provoking and I also found myself comforted by them.

In “Jungle Life,” a young man repeatedly interviews his Alzheimer’s-stricken father about a friend’s fate during a World War II scout mission, only to listen to a brand-new version each time. As the son wonders about which version is the real one, he also comes to realize that picking the truth is more his own choice than his father’s.

In “Tell Them I’m Happy Now,” a mother of three young children proves her dedication to home and family life through hectic restorations and redecorations, including painting her daughter’s bathroom a bright Barbie-pink colour, complete with a Barbie painting staring down this bathroom. A little crazy neighbour of theirs, May Keane proclaims that her mother and I quote, “…went to the land of Costco, where all of her dreams come true.”

These women’s devotion to the blinding pursuit of honour is comic, but not played for mere laughs. Fordon neither judges nor questions these substantial quests and coping mechanisms, but allows the women’s shared experiences of grief, loss, and love to stride through their matters. With humour, wisdom, and a touch of craziness, Fordon’s precise, lyrical writing and delicate yet pointed comedy creates endearing, realistic characters trying to find the same answers which the reader hopes to find.

“The Phantom Arm” is a story that delves into the emotional transformation of a boy who has an extra arm that only he can see. The story offers unpredicted wisdom. Rather than being something else to hold, the arms sets him free to behave in ways he never imagined.

The stories are so real and raw. You will giggle and be perplexed in only a couple of paragraphs. The stories easily pushed me to examine my own attitudes toward many of the topics I came across on the pages. I was also truly entertained after I discovered the subtle connections between the stories. Not one among the thirteen stories in this collection disappointed me. Fordon's characters are by turns sceptical, vulnerable, relatable, crazy and sympathetic which creates a good blend. Above all they are believable which I feel is the most important thing for a book to leave a mark. But I feel Fordon's true talent which we observe as we read through the stories is holding up a mirror and making us acknowledge ourselves, our toxic anger, our petty jealousy, our deep sympathy and our reliable loyalty. The writing is elegant and also the plots seem to be brilliantly executed. A must read for those who like short stories, stories about women, or largely realist fiction.

 SAILEE PAWAR

Fordon, K. (2020). I have the answer. ProQuest Ebook Central https://ebookcentral.proquest.com

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