melanie_page's review
5.0
I must confess: I didn't read the back of the book first, as I knew that I wanted to read Jen Michalski's Could You Be With Her Now because she is my lovely editor over at jmww and kindly sent me her book. Could You Be With Her Now is two novellas, and I'm really pleased with that alone. I've read short story collections that end with a novella, but because collections are the majority in small press publishing right now, I've grown a bit tired of them; Could You Be With Her Now was a welcome departure.
The first novella, "I Can Make It to California Before It's Time for Dinner," is summarized on the back of the book as follows:
I often wondered, while Jimmy wandered around, where his mother was, and if she was over-worked and stressed. The father, who, according to Jimmy, is always angry with his special- needs son. More often than not, older brother Josh is left to watch Jimmy. The whole situation made me question what is wrong and right in these families. Can Josh be responsible for his brother, or are children not mean to be ersatz parents? Post-Sandy Hook, these questions are important. I wonder who is meant to provide patience and support to people like Jimmy's parents, should they have assistance from outside sources, and what is the meaning of family and each member's level of responsibility to the others.
Once Jimmy is in "Mr. Ed's" truck, I waited and waited for something terrible to happen. I go back and forth at first, thinking the truck driver really will take Jimmy home--until Jimmy wakes up in another state. And on and on they travel and build a relationship.
My experiences with rape in film and literature is limited, but I've noticed a pattern: in movies, we see movements that imply physical assault. In lit, I see sexual violence described. The part that tends to be missing is what happens to the person physically in the aftermath. For Jimmy, it's all physical description after the fact. His descriptions of his physical injuries are simple, but those words are scary and vivid because they contain a delicate combination of what's said and what's implied regarding his body.
After Jimmy is returned to his parents and brother at the police station, we're left to wonder what will happen to him. So much emphasis is placed on "Mr. Ed" for a time that we crash back into the present where Jimmy is an accidental murderer. What next?...what next?
The second novella, "May-September," is also summarized on the back of the book:
This novella really scratched at my brain! I had so many questions and emotions, the same as the characters, in fact, but I didn't know how to deal with my reactions, just as they didn't theirs.
In pictures and memories, the older woman Sandra is humanized, rich in living. Whenever I was reminded of her age--67--I kept picturing lips that fade into lines in the rest of the face.
To get the full complexity of past and present and the way Michalski layers the two, "May-September" must be experienced. The future is mentioned, but it's not the focus. The mantra of this novella becomes the title of the book. The women point out when they are confused about their situation or a feeling that they are there, together, in that moment, and that is what counts. No matter what I feel about the relationship between Sandra and Alice, the present for them is meaningful, valuable. Truly, I felt a sense of release and a loss of anxiety; if things change between Alice and Sandra, it doesn't matter. What a sense of freedom--to follow the heart, to live, to explore daily.
The first novella, "I Can Make It to California Before It's Time for Dinner," is summarized on the back of the book as follows:
"...Michalski examines the dangers of living in a world while having a compromised reality. In a first-person narrative, the reader follows Jimmy, a mentally challenged fourteen-year-old boy who accidentally kills a neighborhood girl. He winds up running away and hitching a ride with a trucker who is not as trustworthy a companion as Jimmy believes him to be."
I often wondered, while Jimmy wandered around, where his mother was, and if she was over-worked and stressed. The father, who, according to Jimmy, is always angry with his special- needs son. More often than not, older brother Josh is left to watch Jimmy. The whole situation made me question what is wrong and right in these families. Can Josh be responsible for his brother, or are children not mean to be ersatz parents? Post-Sandy Hook, these questions are important. I wonder who is meant to provide patience and support to people like Jimmy's parents, should they have assistance from outside sources, and what is the meaning of family and each member's level of responsibility to the others.
Once Jimmy is in "Mr. Ed's" truck, I waited and waited for something terrible to happen. I go back and forth at first, thinking the truck driver really will take Jimmy home--until Jimmy wakes up in another state. And on and on they travel and build a relationship.
Spoiler
It isn't until Mr. Ed shows Jimmy how to masturbate that things get scary, and next thing you know Jimmy is given "vitamins" only to wake up in a panic:"In the bathroom I sit down and undo and there is blood all on my underpants. I am scared that I will die because I am bleeding. I stuff my behind with toilet paper so I don't die. I am still very sleepy and almost fall off the toilet. 'My butt is bleeding,' I tell the lady at the counter [of the fast food restaurant]. 'I think I am dying.'"
My experiences with rape in film and literature is limited, but I've noticed a pattern: in movies, we see movements that imply physical assault. In lit, I see sexual violence described. The part that tends to be missing is what happens to the person physically in the aftermath. For Jimmy, it's all physical description after the fact. His descriptions of his physical injuries are simple, but those words are scary and vivid because they contain a delicate combination of what's said and what's implied regarding his body.
After Jimmy is returned to his parents and brother at the police station, we're left to wonder what will happen to him. So much emphasis is placed on "Mr. Ed" for a time that we crash back into the present where Jimmy is an accidental murderer.
The second novella, "May-September," is also summarized on the back of the book:
"...a young writer is hired by a much-older woman over the summer to help blog her memories for her grandchildren. An unlikely friendship, and more, follows, as Michalski examines one of the last cultural taboos of our age: May-December romances."
This novella really scratched at my brain! I had so many questions and emotions, the same as the characters, in fact, but I didn't know how to deal with my reactions, just as they didn't theirs.
In pictures and memories, the older woman Sandra is humanized, rich in living. Whenever I was reminded of her age--67--I kept picturing lips that fade into lines in the rest of the face.
Spoiler
The lips were personally my biggest focus, especially when Sandra and Alice kiss.To get the full complexity of past and present and the way Michalski layers the two, "May-September" must be experienced. The future is mentioned, but it's not the focus. The mantra of this novella becomes the title of the book. The women point out when they are confused about their situation or a feeling that they are there, together, in that moment, and that is what counts. No matter what I feel about the relationship between Sandra and Alice, the present for them is meaningful, valuable. Truly, I felt a sense of release and a loss of anxiety; if things change between Alice and Sandra, it doesn't matter. What a sense of freedom--to follow the heart, to live, to explore daily.
jeffchon's review
5.0
What made these two novellas such a thrill to read were the risks the author took throughout the book. The first novella (I Can Make It to California Before It's Time for Dinner): It's always a dicey proposition to write from the point of view of a mentally challenged person, but Michalski really forces the reader into this boy's head, makes you see the world through his eyes and deal with the harrowing situations he's placed in. You believe these things can happen, and by the end you're just spent because you've been put through the wringer.
The second novella (May-September): I felt she wove in and out of each character's POV in a beautiful way. The lack of quotation marks and dialogue tags really emphasized that love is a shared consciousness. This was a really challenging read at first, but once I was able to get into the rhythm of the story, everything unfolded in a heartbreaking way.
The second novella (May-September): I felt she wove in and out of each character's POV in a beautiful way. The lack of quotation marks and dialogue tags really emphasized that love is a shared consciousness. This was a really challenging read at first, but once I was able to get into the rhythm of the story, everything unfolded in a heartbreaking way.
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