4 out of 4 stars
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Smiling Exercises, and other stories is a collection of thirty very entertaining, sometimes shocking, short stories. As a fan of short stories, and particularly of flash fiction, I have to say that this anthology has met all my expectations. With no doubt, Dan Malakin knows his trade. Let’s begin with the titles of his stories: A Beautiful Girl, Decomposing; Brian’s Secret Vagina; The Office Door Fiasco; A Good Kicking is Hard to Find, etc. And here is my favourite: Long Tongue, Twisted. These titles are not to grab the attention, although they might look sententious at first glance. Many of them are metaphorical and tell at least half of the story they are preceding. For example, Brian in Brian’s Secret Vagina finds a female vagina under his armpit. The story is not about sex or any kind of inappropriate behaviour. It is about the relationship that is so deep and gentle it should be kept hidden from other people’s eyes.
In flash fiction, there is no space for background explanation. Dan Malakin propels his characters straight into the middle of the action, into the events of no return. We don’t know the character at the beginning and might get confused at first. However, before we had got irritated, the author would insert a clever metaphor, an unusual argument or strange mannerism of the character – and we would feel that we knew that fellow for ages. For instance, in Plugs, the boyfriend is British and the girlfriend is American. Their relationship didn’t work because they were using a different kind of electrical plugs. The narrator, the British chap, argues: "The English plug, that steady and sturdy device, that paradigm of Britishness, with its trident of strong legs" is more attractive than "pathetic American plugs with their weedy breakable legs". What can I say more?
A good piece of flash fiction, like a good piece of poetry, does not always end with the last sentence of the story. The ending should be hidden somewhere in the middle, and sometimes in the first sentence. I loved how Dan Malakin was playing with the endings of his stories. Let’s take A Dream About My Wife. He begins with a confession: “Last night I dreamt I left my wife”. That’s it – the story was about the man who was unable to fulfil his dreams.
I was amazed how skilfully Dan Malakin exploited different themes and subjects. Most of the stories touched the themes of loneliness and attachments (and not only among and between humans). There were stories about the apocalypse, Christianity, betrayal, etc. I have already mentioned Long Tongue, Twisted. This amazing story is written on the theme of bullying among children. A school boy, whose name I believe is Peter, is surrounded by a gang of other boys who bully him because he has speech difficulties. It happens every day. He blames his tongue for his suffering. He hates his tongue, but he is the brave boy. I read the story several times and each time I had goose bumps on my arms. The story is written in present tense in a matter-of-fact language. It’s horrible and it’s beautiful. For that story alone, I would give the book the highest rate. Fortunately, most of the stories in this collection were of the same high quality. No wonder that most of them were already published in popular magazines and two were shortlisted for the Bridport Prize.
With great pleasure I give Smiling Exercises four out of four stars. I would recommend the book for the lovers of good short stories.
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Smiling Exercises, and Other Stories
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