A Multitude of Sins

Insistent and exquisite, Ford gives us a meditation on a theme. Using adultery as a filter, he examines the range of everyday sins that accompany lives unrealized and disconnected. Adultery is the frozen tip, making the movement under the water visible. This is not the book to look to for big events. The drama largely happens off stage. The moments of violence are dulled-- killing time more than killing each other. It makes for the kind of sinning that you may not expect, but is probably more real to the real lives of people than the more Hollywood variety. I can understand the criticism of the book, both here and elsewhere. Ford is so interested in the problem that he explores it from every angle and there is a sameness to many of these stories as they seem to conceptually pick up where the others left off. I was fascinated, bored, impatient and finally fascinated again by the project. I can think of very few writers who are more skilled than Ford. I would recommend this book to virtually anyone who enjoys good prose. Honestly, the novels (Independence Day is my favorite) are probably easier to read, and may serve as a good introduction to the way that the author handles his subject matter.

I am continually astounded and impressed by Richard Ford's writing. "A Multitude of Sins," Ford's latest collection of short stories, cuts open for the reader fresh, bleeding slices of life from a series of marital infidels. Ford's incisive, intuitive skills of observation make you feel free as an invisible molecule of oxygen, permitted access to all of humanity's most private recesses.Ford paints the interior lives of a series of mostly unhappy mid-Western professionals with the unflinching eye of a truly empathetic artist. This is not an easy read, but it is more than worth your time. As Ford chronicles the various hurts and pains accumulated by lives not lived fully and the subsequent emotional dead-ends and disappointments that await most would-be escapees, one gets the sense that these stories are not so much about a multitude of sins, as about a single one. The sin of dissatisfaction might very well be an inherent human condition, a kind of original sin. We've all felt dissatisfaction to some degree with love, unfulfilled promise, and the way things are. If dissatisfaction is something we all have to contend with, maybe we can alleviate it by confessing our own versions of dissatisfaction. As Richard Ford's latest collection of stories, "A Multitude of Sins," makes clear, there is nothing like confession to satisfy the soul.

Richard Ford is one of my favorite authors. I was hesitant to pick up this book having loved Rock Springs so much. I wasn't sure anything could hold up to that earlier work. This book made me much more appreciative of my good wife and marriage. If a work of fiction changes your outlook on life or causes you to think about your own situations and be glad hasn't it done its job? The stuff Ford writes is important.

The language used by Richard Ford can often feel like a rich, creamy piece of delicious chocolate cake. The reading feels soft and warm, yet under the cover of this warmth and sweetness hide brilliantly strung, sharp, realistically brutal stories. Ford manages to develop his characters in ways that turn his writing into tangible almost painful experiences. The theme is quite delicate here; failing, confused, complex relationships. This book could be seen as a depressing, but maybe more of a voyeuristic read. Let's take "Under the radar" as an example... A revealing multilayered illustration of a bad situation turning worse. The first sentence sets the stage for a perfect tragedy, and the story manages to slowly take us down the slope from bad to worse. As the plot and the complexity of the situation progress, the language keeps the deliciously sweet, slightly southern flavor. Just the first sentence is so good that it needs to be quoted: "On the drive over to the Nicholsons' for dinner - their first in some time - Marjorie Reeves told her husband, Steven Reeves, that she had had an affair with George Nicholson (their host) a year ago, but that it was all over with now and she hoped he - Steven - would not be mad about it and could go on with life." That's just one sentence... out of an exciting collection of brilliant stories by one of our best contemporary authors.

A Multitude of Sins is a very interesting, somewhat depressing set of stories. Every one of them deals with adultery in one form or another. Sometimes a past adultery informs the plot of the story, sometimes the ending of it is the driving force. None of the stories actually deals with the beginning of it, except in flashback. Many times, the parties involved think back to the beginning and try to figure out what has gone wrong, and why a thrilling, secretive experience has become dull and boring. The highlight of the novel has to be Abyss, the last story in the book. It's the longest story, and allows Ford to really get into the character of the two protagonists. Again, you see the beginning of their affair in flashback, the sudden spark when they first touch, and the red hot desire when they first truly look into each other's eyes. When the characters are sent to Phoenix for a convention, you see how their feelings have changed as the height of their passion comes crashing down into the dullness of reality and they each see what the other person is really like. Watching this relationship crumble, and then seeing the unexpected (at least to me) resolution to the story, was very intriguing, and made me want to finish the story as soon as possible. The characters in each story are seekers, in a way. They are all searching for something to make their life complete. They are lost souls, searching for the fulfillment that life should bring, but doesn't always. Having an affair seems to them, at first, to fill that gap, but it never actually does. That's what makes the stories so depressing, in a way: seeing the fruitless search for life. Only one story has what's even close to a happy ending, and even that happiness is caused by the realization that their marriage is truly over. Most of the stories end with the characters having fallen, picking themselves up and resolving to move on through life's dense fog. A little wiser, perhaps. Or perhaps not. Some people never learn. Still, depressing or not, I found all of the stories worthwhile to read. From the short vignettes to the longer pieces, each one contained interesting situations, or a nice twist, or even just making a point about life. I can't say I enjoyed the book, but I certainly did find it fascinating. I have never read any of Ford's stuff, but I may have to now that I've read some of his short fiction.