Book Report: Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day

26. Ben Loory, Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day (2011) (5/10/21)

This may be the sort of book that you need to savor slowly, a story at a time, but I did not: I hurried through it, simply to get it over with. It consists of 40 very short stories, populated by nameless people and the occasional tea-drinking octopus, walking tree, or play-writing television set, and all manner of weird stuff happens, often with a twist at the end. I suppose the stories might be allegorical, and some of them do give you something to think about in terms of our perceptions of others or our understanding of cause-and-effect or of the nature of dreams (and nightmares). Loory has a wild, extravagant imagination, that's for sure, though the writing style is very  plain, as befits a fable or fairy tale. Too plain for me, and many of the stories felt like they might have been written in response to a prompt—too slight to be considered a full-fledged "story." But again, perhaps the effect is different if you, say, take forty days to read the book, and let the mystery or darkness or whimsy or horror of each story settle in you. I will never know. 

Here is one story in its entirety:

The Shadow

Once there was a man who was afraid of his shadow.
     Then he met it.
     Now he glows in the dark.

I've been reading more experimental fiction lately, and I find I am ready to get back to some more traditional literature. Something that isn't trying to tweak me with its cleverness, but actually has a serious point to make. Though that said, there is an existential gravity to these stories that has haunted me while I've been reading. Upshot: I found this book impressive, but I'm not sure I liked it. I'm also not sure I didn't.

P.S. In his acknowledgments, Loory says that "this book was written exclusively to Alina by Arvo Pärt." Here is that piece of music. It may be a better indicator than this report as to whether this book is something you might enjoy.