Wolfin' Out

Once again, the random-read selector has pointed me to a collection of short stories from the 1990s that Josh bought. Not really so random-seeming, is it? This time around, I partook of Werewolves in Their Youth by Michael Chabon (1999). Chabon was also the author of Wonder Boys, upon which the movie with Michael Douglas was based. I saw that movie and thought it was pretty good, although I have not read the book. I would read it, though, because I thought Werewolves was an engaging read.

Most of these stories are about relationships that are falling apart, have recently fallen apart, or are on the brink of falling apart. Everyone is getting divorced, splitting away, and growing apart. But then, somehow, they end up clinging to something or someone new, or falling back into the same relationship that went so bad at the beginning. Rather than being depressing, the stories are more dark and weirdly hopeful, even when nothing works out by the end.

The thematic exception is the last story of the book, which is written in the guise of a genre horror story by August van Zorn, the author character from Wonder Boys. This selection, titled "In the Black Mill," is a nicely written story of a creepy mill town built on the site of an ancient Indian burial ground, where most of the men are missing body parts from the mill work. The only thing is, no one can really tell our interloping narrator what it is the mill produces. And then there is the strangely addictive locally brewed beer...