Absent Friends: Stories

RALPH THE DUCK is simply one of the best short stories I've ever read. It is absolute MUST reading for the developing writer, though it may make you feel miserable, as its level of mastery is intimidating. It is simple and unforgettable.I'm actually sorry Frederick expanded the story into "GIRLS". It works far better as the punch to the stomach it is in short-story form.This collection of stories will whet your appetite for more from this fine, fine upstate New York writer.

"Ralph the Duck", the second item in ABSENT FRIENDS, is my favorite short story. This first-person account by a Vietnam veteran hooks the reader with a funny golden retriever who loves what makes him sick (Think about it). The narrator is a part-time college student, taking one free class a session in partial payment for his job as a security guard. He figures it'll take him sixteen years to graduate. The story is heavily laced with irony in that the student tests the teacher. The narrator (I couldn't find a name) turns in a paper entitled "Ralph the Duck", which seems entirely inappropriate for an assignment in rhetoric and persuasion (You'll need to read the story several times before you figure out why he felt it met the assignment). We've all met teachers like the professor. He never wears a suit. He sports khakis and sweaters, loafers or sneakers. Ironed dungarees. There's lots of sardonic humor. The narrator says, "Slick characters like my professor like it if you're a killer or at least a onetime middleweight fighter." The story picks up pace when a red-headed co-ed takes some pills during a snowstorm and disappears, and our hero is off to the rescue. The redhead is the professor's "advisee". Although the story is twenty pages long, it is very sparely written. As I was reading it, I thought to myself, "This would make a really good novel." Apparently Busch did, too. It's called GIRLS. If you can't figure out "Ralph the Duck", read the novel.

In "From the New World," the first of the fourteen stories in this collection by Frederick Busch, a producer with a liking for Melville encourages a writer to develop a script where people learn things without overhearing them. Busch follows his character's advice: these stories are about loss -- the loss, by sympathetic, everyday people, of a parent, spouse, sibling, or child -- and yet the dimensions of their loss, sometimes even the fact of the loss itself, are only hinted at. The stories are remarkably affecting, the characters are credible and interesting, and the dialogue is right on.

Busch is a very perceptive writer and the stories in this book is realistic fiction at its best. He possesses so much wisdom about the pragmatics of life and infuses them with humor and genuine human emotions. I especially love the story Ralph the Duck where he becomes another Holden Caulfield, a lovable loser who eventually becomes a hero. Highly recommended.