Harper Perennial were kind enough to send me a copy of this book for review, and it's a good-looking book too. But I was reading some of the quotes on the back, all the praise from other people and I was concerned - could one writer really create a selection of short stories that can do
all that? Turns out that Kevin Moffett actually can.
Further Interpretations of Real-Life Events is the name of one story, and also the name for the entire collection. It suits. Moffett has a keen eye for the everyday bizarre; all the things that people think and do that some writers don't (or maybe are afraid to) clue into. People are weird creatures, but we all exist in the same world and do the same things, so for ever strange occurrence, there's an everyday recognition. That's my literary turn on, and Moffett really satisfies. There's a birdhandler on a cruiseship, a man from Estonia who swallows part of his tooth, and a woman who falls for a Lieutenant who thinks he's still at war.
At the heart of each story is a fascinating character, or two, and Moffett has a way of introducing his characters in such a way that they're instantly known and loved. There wasn't any story that didn't move. And it's never obvious or contrived, always subtle and very clever. These are the kind of characters that remind you of real life. Someone told me a story about their colleague, and I said, 'That's like this story I read, where this guy...' Circumstances might be different, but the feeling is the same, and there's a huge variety of feelings here; gentle ups and downs, but definitely felt.
All bar one of these stories have appeared in magazines, including McSweeney's and the Harvard Review. It's no wonder. If I haven't made a case for it already, Moffett can really write. Someone will probably want to make these short films, but that's impossible, because it's about the words. Stylish and brilliant.
