The Higher Massapequas
by Richard Daub
Style: Literary Fiction / Brief Tales
ISBN: 9781946094087
Print Size: 294 pages
Reviewed by Erin Britton
Eccentric, humorous, and actual—discover Massapequa on this wide-ranging assortment of linked quick tales.
All human life is right here in Richard Daub’s The Higher Massapequas, a group of 49 quick tales set in and round Massapequa on Lengthy Island, New York.
Spanning the interval from the mid-Nineteen Eighties to the early Nineteen Nineties, the included tales concentrate on the eccentric folks and locations of the (in)well-known hamlet, delving into their oddities, shenanigans, and shames as seen from the attitude of a singular observer—that’s, an outsider who was unceremoniously relocated to the burg at an impressionable age.
The primary story in The Higher Massapequas, “Birch Lane,” introduces Carl, on the time a fifth grader, who goes on to be the central character round whom all the subsequent tales weave. On this opening gambit, Carl is settling in for his first day at Birch Lane Elementary in Massapequa, having moved to the hamlet after his mom left his father to shack up along with her affair associate, the aptly named Rick the Dick, “the suburban cowboy with Burt Reynolds mustache, customized van, and nation music.”
It’s 1983 and Carl sadly comes to appreciate that he’s grossly underdressed in comparison with his classmates. “Carl had by no means been a ‘new child’, and he’d at all times felt unhealthy for them, outsiders for at the very least a few grades earlier than the ‘new child’ label lastly began to put on off.” The truth seems to be even worse than he imagined and never simply from a style standpoint; he even will get labeled with a “KICK ME” signal. Nevertheless, a gathering with fellow beginner/outcast Eric means that the brand new faculty won’t be a complete loss.
In “Birch Lane,” Daub units the tone for your complete assortment by focusing the story on a life occasion that’s relatable to many: the disorientating expertise of being the brand new child, particularly in a spot the place everybody appears to have identified everybody else eternally. This universality of theme renders Carl’s early experiences in Massapequa massively relatable and triggers a way of understanding or, possibly, camaraderie, resulting in the hope that issues will shortly enhance for him.
“Until Loss of life Do They Half, Pt. II” sheds additional gentle on Carl’s amusingly troubled backstory within the lead-up to the transfer to Massapequa. For example, one night, heading downstairs in his pajamas to retrieve a Hardy Boys guide, he’s startled by the presence of Buck in the lounge. “Carl screamed and ran out of the room yelling, ‘Intruder! Intruder! Name 9-1-1!’” This aptitude for the dramatic is clear in most of the later tales too, however so is the informal disregard for Carl’s ideas and emotions by the adults in his life. He generally is a bit taxing, however there are sometimes good the reason why he’s so.
Such disregard possible explains one other key theme working by The Higher Massapequas: Carl’s painfully deep-rooted want to slot in and be accepted. Whether or not it’s stealing a Star Wars determine in “Zaxxon and the Emperor’s Royal Guard,” or permitting Eric to destroy his new bike in “The Huffy,” or one of many quite a few different situations of self-sabotage, Carl could be very usually his personal worse enemy, which might generally make rooting for him tough. Nonetheless, his lack of self-confidence and apparent want for friendship render him a really actual and sympathetic character. He usually finally ends up doing precisely the embarrassing factor that everybody prays they don’t do.
The truth is, Carl’s removed from the one resident of Massapequa with points. In “Massive Chief Lewis,” Ethel and Charles argue over whether or not the brand new promoting gimmick for his or her insurance coverage firm is offensive: “the just-delivered two-story fiberglass statue depicting Massive Chief Lewis, Native American warrior, adorned with feather headdress and peace pipe able to be torched, standing on a sq. of AstroTurfed concrete, flanked by disproportionately smaller statues of a horse and bison.” Good judgement is clearly briefly provide within the hamlet. Regardless of their cartoonish worries, the antics of Ethel and Charles, like these of many different residents, are concurrently unhappy and mad, highlighting the usually absurd nature of life.
There are additionally occasional visits from out-of-towners in The Higher Massapequas. For instance, in “Saturdays,” Carl’s father makes an look. “At precisely 10:00 am on Saturday morning, Carl Sr. pulled into the driveway of ‘The Mansion’ belonging to his ex-wife and her new husband, the person who’d cuckolded him.” The cringe-worthy post-divorce expertise and the just about excruciating makes an attempt by Carl and his siblings to look happy that their cheapskate dad is visiting are but extra common themes. Daub has a eager eye for the on a regular basis and for the mundane issues that yield surprising energy.
As the gathering progresses and Carl grows towards maturity, these sorts of experiences change into much less frequent, however they’re changed with different—equally lugubrious—occasions and encounters. Whether or not skipping the junior promenade seeking a cooler Hamptons occasion in “Extra Than A Lady,” which features a startling revelation in regards to the potential (emotional risks) of a glow-up, or searching for to buy a socially acceptable first automobile in “The Rabbit,” or serving as a keen rebound man in “Girlfriend II,” Carl’s life doesn’t appear to get any simpler or simpler with age. Certainly, there appears to be an actual hazard that he’ll change into a long-term Massapequa loser except he shakes issues up in some way.
Lastly, The Higher Massapequas concludes with “Waitresses of the Northern Tier,” which sees a now grown Carl touring on I-94 in Seashore, North Dakota, heading towards Seattle and the promise of a brand new life, an escape from being “born within the flawed place. To the flawed household.” Breaking his journey at a truck cease, he will get speaking to a waitress named Dinah, who reminds him of his first crush, Maggie. “Talking softly, she stated, ‘Should you’re willin’ to stay round for a short while, my shift ends at three, and I’ll have an hour earlier than I’ve to begin getting dinner prepared for the youngsters.’”
Regardless of the tempting provide, he hits the highway, however there’s “one thing nagging at him, that this was not but a ‘reminiscence’ however an energetic thought buried alive, and that there was nonetheless time to return and switch that good little second into the final word Kerouac highway expertise.” He turns again to Seashore and is there to fulfill Dinah when she finishes. They head to her home, the place her ex-husband additionally nonetheless lives, after which her mom turns up too… Making a fast escape, Carl continues his journey, visiting different truck stops and assembly different waitresses who remind him of ladies he as soon as knew.
“Waitresses of the Northern Tier” is each amusing and surprisingly melancholic. Every encounter that he has with a brand new waitress reminds him of one thing, nevertheless painful, from the previous that may by no means be recaptured. He’s touring to Seattle seeking a brand new life and a brand new him. Regardless of the prompting from an virtually preternatural waitress named Maggie, will he ever be capable of break the cycle of a lifetime and really let love in?
Regardless of accumulating 49 tales, The Higher Massapequas is a surprisingly fast learn, with Daub linking every of the vignettes in such a method that there’s at all times a pull to see what occurs to Carl and people round him subsequent. Certainly, most of the tales finish on the type of mundane cliffhanger—Will a brand new friendship type? Will the reality behind a motorcycle theft be found? Will racist distant family members ever enhance?—that has a lot significance in every day life, significantly for rising youngsters and/or these searching for their place on this planet.
As a group, Daub’s tales current Carl’s rising pains in all their perplexing and embarrassing glory, which means that they weave collectively to type a singular, episodic coming-of-age novel a few regularly troubled younger man rising up within the Nineteen Eighties and Nineteen Nineties surrounded by those that don’t or received’t perceive him. Nonetheless, as every story is finally self-contained, they are often learn as particular person tales, maybe even in a random order relying on what takes the reader’s fancy, offering a satisfying and stunning studying expertise every time.
The Higher Massapequas is an evocative assortment of tales that gives a window into one other time and place, with Carl serving as a type of everyman who should undergo the trials and tribulations of rising up with a purpose to illustrate the common nature of such experiences and reassure readers that their very own lives are solely averagely peculiar. Taken collectively, the tales are entertaining, generally troubling, usually hilarious, and at all times participating.
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