The Drowned Life

There is nothing more difficult for a writer than to write a short story (I mean REALLY short) and make it complete with plot development and vivid characters and, finally, the big finale. Jeffrey Ford does it story after story. He writes about the life of ants. He writes about a city on the bottom of a lake. There is a story that is a page and a half long that I had to read 3 times until I completely understood it; and when I did I immediately sent it off to my sister. This guy can write and none of his work is ever, ever dull.

Channeling the gravitas of Borges and Calvino, Jeffrey Ford's collection of short stories titled The Drowned Life, though at times overreaching in scope, sublimely conjures a sense of sheer wonder and befuddlement when confronted with the intersection of everyday life and the dreams that shape it, or are shaped by it. Ford alternates his stories between the subtle and grandiose, the mundane and the outlandish, incorporating through each a pervasive sense of mystery and weirdness. When he is not detailing the wisdom of a soothsaying octopus, a town's dependence upon an annual, magical breeze, and the peculiar behavior surrounding the annual "deathberry" drinkers, he describes the power contained within an overlooked scribble, an apartment's potentially haunting flicker of light, losing a Chinese curse in a poker game, and the dictated writings of a comatose daughter through her mother. This see-saw between the highly fantastical and the merely strange begs careful attention and even patience of the reader, noting the eternal truth that things are never what they seem. Several stories, especially that which introduces the fascinating Madame Mutandis, are deserving of their own novels. The Drowned Life is a deep and resonating read.

Ford's words will create images that take your breath away. Simply put, this is one of the best compilations of short fiction that I have ever read. The author takes you on a ride through worlds that run the gamut from bleak to inspiring, fantasy to science fiction, horrifying to modern, and funny to serious. As a fan of all forms of genres, this book fit well with me. Even if some of the stories don't fit your liking, you will likely find more that you do enjoy than you did not. Ford is an original writer in a time when so much is just copycat work. The stories are wonderful on a purely entertaining level, but hold much deeper meaning for those that really want to discuss his deeper themes. His words simply flow of the page in poetic ripples. Before you realize it your reading the last lines of the story and thinking to yourself, "Wow, I have to read that again!". Very few works of literature capture my attention enough to warrant multiple reads purely for an entertaining purpose, this book did so more than once. Additionally, my reading group has spent a significant time looking at the stories in this compilation, and more than once we have came back to comment on it. Ford is a brilliant writer and nothing less. This is a must have book if you are a fan of short stories and a must have book if your not. A few of my favorite stories include "The Drowned Life", "Under the Bottom of the Lake", and "In the House of Four Seasons". Buy it, read it, enjoy it, and savor it. It's that good.

Jeffrey Ford has a flair for the most speculative of speculative fiction, with storylines that are so creative and surreal that the unlikeliest lessons on human nature are in store for the adventurous reader. It's hard to put your finger precisely on the source of Ford's uniqueness, but it definitely comes down to sheer powers of the imagination. The result is a mix of inner space sci-fi, dark fantasy, and psychological horror in which creeping dread mixes with, and somehow becomes, optimism and insight. This collection's opener, "The Drowned Life," is a perfect example, developing from a unique (and timely) premise about people literally drowning in a sea of debt and misfortune. Other winners that develop from offbeat ideas into haunting lessons for humanity include "The Night Whiskey," "The Scribble Mind," and "The Dreaming Wind." Ford also has a knack for turning semi-autobiographical vignettes into weirdly surreal plotlines, and he is also quite adept at building a sense of dread from the vaguely supernatural. That last talent can be a source of difficulty however, with some tales like "Under the Bottom of the Lake" and "in the House of Four Seasons" becoming a little too abstract for truly fulfilling resolutions to their mysteries. But in the end, there is something strangely original about Jeffrey Ford's vision, and his unique creativity is perfectly introduced in this collection. [~doomsdayer520~]

The Drowned Life is Jeffrey Ford's third short story collection and it may be his best yet. The title story that kicks things off is nothing short of a minor miracle, a surrealistic adventure that's equally heartbreaking, harrowing, and funny. And I mean honestly, laugh out loud three or four times, funny. In the story, Ford's everyman, Hatch, finds that his financial woes (along with the dark specter of world events and working a soul sapping job) have manifested as a growing tide that he must continuously bail himself out of. When he finally loses the will to keep bailing, he finds himself in "Drowned Town," an underwater city populated by everyone who has "gone under." One of the risks of surrealism, it seems to me, is that once the reader has entered a dreamscape, the consequences for the characters can lose weight. One of the most impressive things Ford does in "The Drowned Life" (and elsewhere) is retain every bit of gravitas even given the absurdity of the milieu. When Hatch calls home to apologize to his wife for going under, the pathos is genuine. When Hatch tries to navigate through Drowned Town to rescue his son from a rowdy party, his desperation is palpable. The title story sets the bar incredibly high for whatever follows, yet Ford manages to almost reach that level several more times - in the mobius strip plots of "Under the Bottom of the Lake" and "The Dismantled Invention of Fate," the Bradbury-esque "The Night Whiskey," and the inspired premise of "The Scribble Mind" (you'll never look at a two-year-old's artwork the same way again after reading this one). Critics love to proclaim a writer as having an "original voice." Ford's an original, to be sure, but to describe his voice, the adjective that first comes to my mind is appealing. I know of no writer who employs such b.s.-free prose, yet still manages to be downright poetic so often. The Drowned Life is a perfect introduction to Ford's style and, once you're done, you'll want to read everything else he's written. Take my word for it.

The drowned life is an interesting collection of stories from Jeffery Ford. Ford has written a number of very good books, but this collection of shorts is probably the most interesting peek into the worlds that he has created and built. Usually short story collections can be tedious to read, or filled with half-seen ideas, or incomplete in some way, this book does not carry that burden. The stories are tight and well defined; these are the best, not the low hanging fruit from files that should have stayed on a computer. The premise behind the shorts is that if you drown and die, you will end up in the underwater world of the dead. There are as many stories in this city as there are decaying corpses, which is what makes the premise of the book unique. The framework is the revisiting of events and moments in life, much like a death dream, with the added penalty of being dead already. No matter the promises that people make, this book approaches a number of good archetypal issues. Loss of innocence, promises made that need to be kept, wild youth and lost days. This book slyly moves between science fiction and fantasy to near reality. What happens to people when it looks right, but everything seems to go wrong as well. These were some very interesting stories to read, and some truly thought provoking as well. How we handle the situations we find ourselves in, is how we work out our issues, and how we tell we are alive. What happens if we carry that on through death, and how death is defined? Engaging and interesting to read, this was a stay up all night reading the book kind of book. Interesting stories that are well tied together using a novel framework. This is some of Fords best work, leaves the reader fulfilled that there is a reason why this book was written.