The Wall of the Sky, the Wall of the Eye

This collection of short stories from Berkeley-by-way-of-Brooklyn writer Jonathan Lethem explores the same sort of absurdist science fiction landscape as his novel "Amnesia Moon." These seven pieces show the depth and breadth of Lethem's creativity as he explores the outer reaches of this genre. The stories that were previously printed in Asimov's Science Fiction magazine are among the standouts in this collection and speak both to the editor's catholic tastes and Lethem's ability to inhabit vastly different worlds and report back with chilling clarity. "The Happy Man," the lead off tale of a guy who spends half his time in hell and the other half trying to make up with his increasingly distant wife and troubled teenage son, sets the tone for the volume. In this troubling story, the reappearance of a ne'er-do-well uncle in his Earth-bound life begins to draw the two worlds into closer proximity. Lethem telegraphs his final blow but it is devastating all the same. This story stays with the reader and reveals the barely-disguised malice in our classic fairy tales. "Vanilla Dunk," is a slightly futuristic story of professional basketball in a time where the sport is in an advanced state of atrophy and has begun to consume itself like a snake eating its own tail. Powered "exosuits" give players the sampled skills of the greatest athletes of all time, turning the game into a live fantasy league. Lethem uses the post-sport spectacle to probe the issues of race (when a white hotshot draws the much-vaunted skills of Michael Jordan) and fame like a tongue returning to the socket of a broken tooth. This is quite a different story than "The Happy Man" and it's a testament to Lethem's deft touch that one doesn't need an understanding, or fondness for that matter, of basketball to enjoy it. Not every story in "The Wall of the Eye" is a slam dunk, but the penultimate tale, "The Hardened Criminals," shows what an incredible imagination Lethem possesses. To give away the story's main conceit would be a crime in and of itself, but it ends up being a chilling indictment of the prison industry and the way that it is set up to strip away the humanity of those stupid, crazy, or unlucky enough to fall under its purview. Lethem is a prolific novelist as well as short story writer and at times his prose reads dangerously close to poetry as in this introduction of the prison in "The Hardened Criminals": "The prison was an accomplishment, a monument to human ingenuity, like a dam or an aircraft carrier. At the same time the prison was a disaster, something imposed by nature on the helpless city, a pit gouged by a meteorite, or a forest-fire scar."

It is the sign of a true master that none of these short stories bears any resemblance to another, yet each is in its own way outstandingly audacious.Some worked better than others, and from reading the other reviews here it seems the selection varies from reader to reader. Yet the range and boldness of his ideas nearly staggers the imagination, and to have pulled this off -- not once, but seven times -- is astonishing.

Several works of varying quality. None of them are bad, but I'm sure everyone can find one in this batch that reminds them that Letham is a mere mortal. I'm almost as sure that it is a different story for everyone. If you liked any of his books a lot you will probably like at least a couple of the stories.

There's one way to describe Lethem's writing: inventive. Reminiscent of Vonnegut and Philip K. Dick at their best, Lethem's stories are some of the most creative works of fiction you'll ever read. Unfortunately, "creativity" doesn't always equal "entertaining." While none of the stories in this book will bore you, some of them are kind of pointless. You'll get done reading them, and you'll be like, that's it? There is one story in here that's worth the price of the book alone, though: Vanilla Dunk. If you are a sports fan, buy this book, ignore the other stories, and read this one. It's about a futuristic basketball league in which players can have the skills and playing abilities of all the great players of history. It's one of the best sports stories I've ever read. Outstanding. I could pass on the other stories, though.

Jonathan Lethem is one of the best authors in the science fiction genre at making things bizarre and psychedelic seem utterly convincing and plausible. The Wall of the Sky, The Wall of the Eye continues in that vein. Each story is set in a carefully crafted world that stretches the mind and defies the imagination. When reading a Lethem story one is almost forced into the position of simply absorbing the language for later digestion as his prose is at the same time lush and full of ideas as well as it is sparse as far as plot devices go. This is the downfall of the stories in this volume. Of them, only Vanilla Dunk, and the Happy Man have truly conclusive endings, and the latter's ending is obvious right from the start. The rest of the stories simply trail off ambiguously or end rather abrubtly. In either case the stories fail to reach a satisfying conclusion. It feels as if Lethem has these wonderful stories, full of likeable characters and fascinating ideas, but that he doesn't know what to do with the worlds he creates, with his ideas and his characters. They seem to be incomplete. Overall, however, it is impossible to deny the joy to be had in these stories. In spite of their shortcomings they remain highly well written...tidbits. To call them stories is perhaps stretching the definition of the word a bit since stories generally are brought to reasonable conclusion. But, as tidbits, or story fragments perhaps they serve well to show of Lethem's prowess at characterization and world building.