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The Disappeared by Andrew Porter is a book of short stories categorized as literary fiction. The book description from the publisher describes it best: “A husband and wife hear a mysterious bump in the night. A father mourns the closeness he has lost with his son. A friendship with a married couple turns into a dangerous codependency. With gorgeous sensitivity, assurance, and a propulsive sense of menace, these stories center on disappearances both literal and figurative–lives and loves that are cut short, the vanishing of one's youthful self. From San Antonio to Austin, from the clamor of a crowded restaurant to the cigarette at a lonely kitchen table, Andrew Porter captures each of these relationships mid-flight, every individual life punctuated by loss and beauty and need. The Disappeared reaffirms the undeniable artistry of a contemporary master of the form.”
Fifteen stories are told in this collection, most taking place between San Antonio, Texas to Austin and back. There are a few intriguing questions that run through this collection. What happened to who I used to be? What ever happened to the interesting people I used to hang out with when I was younger? What happened to those weird neighbors I used to live next door to at that shabby apartment complex? If there is a theme song for this book, then it would be “Somebody That I Used to Know.”
For instance, in the first story “Austin,” the narrator begins the story at a party where some old college buddies are hanging out and getting drunk. They're reminiscing and telling stories, although the narrator feels disconnected from them. One friend tells a story about an acquaintance who killed a home invader and asks the narrator if he was justified in doing it. Instead of answering this moral dilemma, the narrator simply leaves the party; he disappears. At home, his wife worries about a possible intruder in their own laundry room. Late one night as he stays up worrying, he muses:
“Outside I could hear the occasional sound of a car passing, young people shouting things into the air. When did I become the person who listened to such sounds and not the person who made them?”
Another story finds a man wondering if an artist he used to date was having a relationship with an older mentor who painted nude portraits of her, but because she dies later, he never finds out. Another story finds a couple dealing with the future of a Parkinson's diagnosis, the female partner seeing her current life eventually disappearing into the incurable disease. A brief story finds a man reminiscing about a hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant where he enjoys an astounding pozole soup, but the restaurant changes owners overnight and the remarkable soup vanishes as well as the unusual patrons who all enjoyed their exquisite meals there. Life changes in an instant sometimes. Where do these people and things disappear to?
Porter handles all of these stories with a command of his craft. His writing is fantastic and the stories move along like a ship in the ocean but without a hint of how these stories will end up. There are several places where Porter plays with the reader's expectations, putting clues in place that don't play out the way the reader would expect. Some stories unfurl with a candid placidity; others lurch with a creeping dread. The final story crackles with sexual tension, yet ends with such a thoughtful denouement that I felt consoled instead of tantalized.
When looking back on one's life, many events don't play out how you'd have guessed at the time and I feel Porter revels in this conundrum. When people in your life disappear, where do they go? What happens to them? What happened to the person you used to be? Wouldn't we all want to know.
I really, really enjoyed this book of stories and I highly recommend it. I would give this book six stars out of five, if I could. It's that good!
