mcmanlypants's review
4.0
Unselected by John Kipling Lewis hits a particular sweet spot for me: an unpredictable mix of flash fiction and poetry, meandering between the darkest shadows and brightest lights and finding beauty in each in the manner of a photographer. The very first story ("The Diner") sets the tone for the rest of the book as its narrator despairs in appreciation of joy. Reading it reminded me of friends lost to self-inflicted tragedies of one sort or another, some of whom could best be described as troubled by the fundamental realization that they always would remain so.
Unselected doesn't shy away from the tragedies of any life, instead showing the maturity required to recognize such events for their profound power to build nigh-unscalable barriers around our existences and perspectives, but neither does "Unselected miss out on the humor, joy and sweet sentiment of those lives. Narrators tell us of tender affection, of love found and lost and then replaced by inspiration and of moments of silent - almost prayerful - appreciation for the wonders to which we are privy if we have the opportunity to notice them. There are surely few books that use stories of time-tripped academics to break up sessions of love poetry, but there ought to be. Unselected celebrates - or at least annotates - everything that makes life interesting whether or not those things make us feel good or qualify as "nice". It serves as a sort of postmodern Spoon River Anthology in that regard, showing us the priorities and experiences of one life after another as determined by the persons who live them.
Often the characters seem to have been swept up by destiny in some way and just awake enough to have recognized fate's arrival as an opportunity of some kind. These moments rarely manifest as a result of the characters' own efforts but they struggle along anyway, sometimes victorious, sometimes in futile but enthusiastic rejection of their own doom and sometimes welcoming the abyss with open arms. The pervasive sense of unexpected and uncontrollable circumstance across so many of the fiction pieces - a choking certainty the characters are merely and entirely the victims of dice rolled on Olympus - underscores the title of the book. It isn't the stories or poems themselves that are unselected, obviously; rather, almost all the circumstances they describe. It's a book that emphasizes the randomness of life, from falling in love to discovering something new about the nature of reality and even a story of being the last person on earth. Chance isn't cursed or blamed by the characters who tell us their tales, however. These are characters who grapple to reassert some measure of control over their lives, even if only long enough to surrender control in some slightly preferable circumstance.
Ultimately, I found Unselected to be a highly enjoyable and deeply satisfying examination of the human spirit in all its manifestations, including those times when a character's determination is focused on destruction and horror rather than something more conventionally sustaining. Not every story or character was perfectly to my liking but I took that as a mark of the variety of stories and poetic voices included rather than a point of detraction. There were also a handful of moments when an editorial oversight broke the mood abruptly, something to which I am particularly sensitive as a reader despite being far more guilty of it as a writer. These are minor complaints, however. Unselected is a fascinating and compelling collection of bite-sized portraits of lives being played out like innings in a continually delayed game of baseball: a character with an important secret to share here, a character with a death wish there and beyond them a character who's suddenly found a purpose in life. There are a dozen books that have been in my to-read pile for a year or more and I shoved them all aside to keep reading Unselected. The nature of flash fiction is often that one doesn't know the real "end" of the story but I find that deeply addicting. I would read a given story, look at my watch, contemplate returning to work from lunch then go back to my viewer for another line, another bump, just one more shot. Lewis crafts fascinating worlds and gives us interesting characters then uses them to great effect, teasing us forward page by page. Well worth the price of admission and then some.
Unselected doesn't shy away from the tragedies of any life, instead showing the maturity required to recognize such events for their profound power to build nigh-unscalable barriers around our existences and perspectives, but neither does "Unselected miss out on the humor, joy and sweet sentiment of those lives. Narrators tell us of tender affection, of love found and lost and then replaced by inspiration and of moments of silent - almost prayerful - appreciation for the wonders to which we are privy if we have the opportunity to notice them. There are surely few books that use stories of time-tripped academics to break up sessions of love poetry, but there ought to be. Unselected celebrates - or at least annotates - everything that makes life interesting whether or not those things make us feel good or qualify as "nice". It serves as a sort of postmodern Spoon River Anthology in that regard, showing us the priorities and experiences of one life after another as determined by the persons who live them.
Often the characters seem to have been swept up by destiny in some way and just awake enough to have recognized fate's arrival as an opportunity of some kind. These moments rarely manifest as a result of the characters' own efforts but they struggle along anyway, sometimes victorious, sometimes in futile but enthusiastic rejection of their own doom and sometimes welcoming the abyss with open arms. The pervasive sense of unexpected and uncontrollable circumstance across so many of the fiction pieces - a choking certainty the characters are merely and entirely the victims of dice rolled on Olympus - underscores the title of the book. It isn't the stories or poems themselves that are unselected, obviously; rather, almost all the circumstances they describe. It's a book that emphasizes the randomness of life, from falling in love to discovering something new about the nature of reality and even a story of being the last person on earth. Chance isn't cursed or blamed by the characters who tell us their tales, however. These are characters who grapple to reassert some measure of control over their lives, even if only long enough to surrender control in some slightly preferable circumstance.
Ultimately, I found Unselected to be a highly enjoyable and deeply satisfying examination of the human spirit in all its manifestations, including those times when a character's determination is focused on destruction and horror rather than something more conventionally sustaining. Not every story or character was perfectly to my liking but I took that as a mark of the variety of stories and poetic voices included rather than a point of detraction. There were also a handful of moments when an editorial oversight broke the mood abruptly, something to which I am particularly sensitive as a reader despite being far more guilty of it as a writer. These are minor complaints, however. Unselected is a fascinating and compelling collection of bite-sized portraits of lives being played out like innings in a continually delayed game of baseball: a character with an important secret to share here, a character with a death wish there and beyond them a character who's suddenly found a purpose in life. There are a dozen books that have been in my to-read pile for a year or more and I shoved them all aside to keep reading Unselected. The nature of flash fiction is often that one doesn't know the real "end" of the story but I find that deeply addicting. I would read a given story, look at my watch, contemplate returning to work from lunch then go back to my viewer for another line, another bump, just one more shot. Lewis crafts fascinating worlds and gives us interesting characters then uses them to great effect, teasing us forward page by page. Well worth the price of admission and then some.
ellsea's review
5.0
I bought Unselected on the recommendation of a very good friend. She told me I would enjoy it. Not only did I enjoy it, I read it twice over within the first 48 hours of purchase. Stories like "The US Junta" and "A Bottle of You" as well as "The Products" are so incredibly different from one another, and yet you can't help but gobble them up as quickly as you can. There's truly something for everyone in this book, and it's a testament to the skill of the author's range and talent that the subject matter can vary so widely.
I'd say more, but I really need to go read it again. :)
I'd say more, but I really need to go read it again. :)
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