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(More customer reviews)In "Chemistry and Other Stories," Ron Rash's most recent collection of short stories from Picador, Rash does exactly what Aristotle suggested to young writers over 2000 years ago; he starts his stories "in medias res"--"In the middle of things." Aristotle knew that if a story was to be successful, it had to focus on the main conflict immediately. Rash executes Aristotle's idea flawlessly in this fine collection.
"The spring my father spent three weeks at Broughton Hospital, he came back to my mother and me pale and disoriented, two pill bottles clutched in his right hand as we made our awkward reunion in the hospital lobby." So begins the title story of Rash's collection, "Chemistry." Rash drops the reader in the middle of things by cutting to the heart of the conflict in the first sentence. He follows "Chemistry" with "Last Rite." "When the sheriff stepped onto her porch, he carried his hat in his hands, so she knew Elijah was dead."
Lately, it seems, I have been lulled to sleep by recent fiction entries in some of the finest literary journals around, seasoned writers trying to entice me into their fictional web with weak beginnings dealing with nothing more challenging than weather reports, bird nests, and hammered metal bells. Rash, unlike many of his contemporaries, understands the structure of effective storytelling and how to imbue a tale with urgency. He starts so perfectly, it's hard to imagine the story could have begun anywhere else. Once the story's in full swing, Rash sketches in supporting events and background with the grace of a magician, so invisibly the reader will scarcely be aware he's doing it.
"I met Lee Ann McIntyre on a date suggested by my wife." From Rash's story, "Honesty." How can bird nests and metal bells possibly compete with that lead-in? Or the first sentence of, "Dangerous Love."--"When Ricky threw his knife and the blade tore my blouse and cut into flesh eight inches from my heart, it was certain as the blood trickling down my arm that something in our relationship had gone wrong." This is powerful writing and exquisite storytelling. Let's not forget, Rash is a poet. He knows about economy of language and writes like he's paying for each and every word out of his own pocket. John Gardner, author of "October Light, Mickelsson's Ghost," and many other titles, once remarked that every line of poetry should be "red meat." Rash obviously knows to stick to the main course, using words impeccably, and sparingly.
"When Pemberton returned to the North Carolina mountains after four months in Boston settling his father's estate, among those waiting on the train platform was a woman pregnant with Pemberton's child." From "Pemberton's Bride."
Rash's beginning sentences sweep the reader in like a riptide, and make compelling promises to his audience, which he delivers upon each and every time. These aren't tricks, or slight of pen; this is solid storytelling at its best. "After the second time his hardware store had been robbed, both times at night, Marshall Vaughn bought a pistol." That from "Deep Gap," and this from Rash's O. Henry Award winning short story, "Speckled Trout." --"Lanny came upon the marijuana plants while fishing Caney Creek." This, like many of the other beginnings in this collection, is simply elegant and astonishingly provocative. "Chemistry and Other Stories" is undoubtedly one of the most enjoyable collections I've read in a long time, and could serve as a valuable primer for new writers and veterans alike, a poignant reminder of how powerful story beginnings can be.
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