Prozac Nation: Austinist Reviews a Trio of Recent Releases

As dysfunctional as Nelson’s characters are, they’ve got nothing on those populating Charles D’Ambrosio’s The Dead Fish Museum: Stories, a collection of short stories loosely woven together by varying degrees of insanity. A man is obsessed with his wife’s rape; a ballerina sets herself on fire; a day laborer on a porn set contemplates suicide; a young man on a quest to spread his grandfather’s ashes is driven mad by some native hocus pocus. Standouts include “Drummond & Son,” in which a father copes with his grown autistic son; “The Scheme of Things,” which follows two hustlers in the heartland; and “Up North,” in which a man spends Thanksgiving at his in-law’s cabin---the site of his wife’s rape years earlier---and one of the other guests is her unnamed rapist.

Throughout, the stories are gorgeously written in lush, rambling prose, and despite their sometimes tabloid-worthy subjects (I Was a Teenage Runaway Hustler! A Porn Star Saved My Life!), they are anchored by an honest humanity that keeps them from becoming overly sensational or just plain absurd.

Humanity is all but absent in Deogratias: A Tale of Rwanda. J.P. Stassen tells his tale through a graphic novel, joining an impressive roster of artists who have co-opted the comic book format to explore complex histories. Indeed, Stassen shares much in common with another genocide-themed graphic novel, Art Speigelman’s Maus, including depicting people as animals (Deogratias is called a dog and feels like a dog, so he becomes one) and using flashbacks.

The story picks up shortly after the genocide has ended. In flashbacks, we see Deogratias as a happy, joking young man who is looking for love and a good time. But he’s been driven mad by the genocide---by the actions of others as well as his own---and he crawls around in dirty clothes, seeking solace in Urwagwa (homebrewed beer).

Stassen spares no one as he explores one of the worst examples of man’s inhumanity to man in modern times; priests, French military officers, Rwandans, and even Deogratias are judged harshly. The story is powerful, honest, and complex (despite being a slim 80 pages, we could write a thesis on it’s symbolism, starting with the name Deogratias), and the artwork is fittingly dark and distorted. You will need some prior knowledge of the genocide ---Stassen provides no exposition---but a short forward outlines the essential information (although we highly recommend---insist even---that you stop whatever you are doing and immediately get a copy of We Wish to Inform You that Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families by Philip Gourevitch, one of the most thorough yet readable histories of the Rwandan genocide).

In Night’s City
by Dorothy Nelson
(Dalkey Archive Press, $11.95)

The Dead Fish Museum: Stories
by Charles D’Ambrosio
(Knopf, $22)

Deogratias: A Tale of Rwanda
by J.P. Stassen
(First Second, $16.95)