May We Shed These Human Bodies

August 27, 2012
Sparksâs debut story collection swirls with a Tim Burton-like whimsy. Ghosts nurse babies (âAs They Always Areâ), Death visits Earth as a New England prep (âDeath and the Peopleâ), people evolve from trees (in the title story), and a girl, born in the land of the dead, is sent to Earth accompanied by a protective group of ghosts (âThe Ghosts Eat More Airâ). âYou Will Be the Living Equationâ describes a teenagerâs attempts to cope with a friendâs suicide. This is much-traveled ground, but the storyâs poignant insights are enlivened by the element of the supernatural and a second-person narration. The collectionâs 30 stories, most no longer than three pages, are modern fables in which epiphanies replace moral lessons and tales unfold with Grimm-like wickedness. While the bookâs shorter, more fantastic pieces are often little more than exercises in imagination, they provide an unnerving atmosphere in which the longer stories can languish and offer the primal enjoyment of not knowing what will happen next. As this energetic collection shows, Sparks isnât afraid to take chances.