Break It Down

A master of the short-short story. The friend who introduced me to this book -- reprinted nicely by High Risk, although I read it in the original, sadly out of print hardback -- pointed out that one probably wouldn't want to hang out with Lydia Davis. She's obsessive and a bit morbid, but she nails certain male-female relations cleanly on the head. Smart women do make bad bedmates sometimes, but their books do not. (I am signing this as a smart woman in hopes of averting charges of sexism -- women aren't the problem I have, nor are men -- it's the obsessing over the minute details of relationships that many women and some men fall prone to.)

I have never written an online review, but I just could not help myself this time. "Break It Down" is absolutely exquisite. Not only can Ms. Davis write, she can make you FEEL what she's writing about. There is a pulse to her stories that grabs you and will not let you go. Her exploration of the individual's need for rationalization and order in the world is powerfully conveyed and leaves you aching for her characters. I've read many good short stories by many good authors, but seldom do I come across anything that rocked my world--This rocked my world.

Lydia Davis is among the best writers writing today, but I'm not sure that's the point. There are zero other writers I would do with as with her - press it on out of town visitors, make them read The Mouse before I will take them out to whatever they came here for. I am not sure why it doesn't appear in collections of the best stories of the latter half of the century, but it should.

I love this writer! It's been a while since I've read this book, but I have only fond memories of it. Her focus is always very tight, and the situations she presents are wildly subjective. All of her stuff is eliptical and I seem to remember laughing (it's been a while). I've read some of her other stuff, and this one is definitely the first place to start.