The Smallest People Alive

This is an extraordinary book that finds its truths and lyricism in lives that seem to offer almost nothing. The stories are peopled by the clinically obese, retards, workers in dead-end jobs, the lonely, the handicapped: the smallest people alive. What's more, they're wise and self-aware enough to know who they are and how little they're owed. What saves them is love, or the possibility of it, of crumbs from love's table. Most of the stories deal with gay men or boys, but that should exclude no one from their power and, often, humour. I was touched and amused, and deeply impressed, by Banner's capacity to make the world he describes not only real but of value. I can't wait to read more.

These short stories are unlike anything I've read before. To me, they are so true to life the words practically burn off the page. Keith Banner illuminates and makes art out of the lives of rural, small town, and small city gay people, and of those whose lives intersect with them. Some characters are so deeply flawed they are repugnant; others evoke nothing but respect and understanding. These stories are funny, pitiful, and harrowing. I hope at least a few of Banner's stories make their rightful place alongside those of the esteemed Flannery O'Connor, Mary Hood, Katherine Anne Porter, and Joy Williams.