Funeral Platter

September 15, 2017
In his acclaimed debut novel, Buffalo Lockjaw (2009), Ames explored the tension surrounding assisted suicide with droll irreverence. With the same wickedly absurd lens, his first story collection finds humanity in the darkest and most unexpected places. His is a world filled with precocious but deluded youth; passionate but aimless, sometimes scheming lovers; historical figures misplaced in time; and innocent strivers. A teenager pens a love letter to a married crossing guard. On their first date, a couple exchanges a lifetime of love and bitterness in only a few hours. A recovering drug and alcohol addict faces off with Pontius Pilate in a Ping-Pong tournament. While dancing in a Taco Bell men's room, two adult friends confront befuddled strangers. A sadistic high-schooler seeks to understand why his sister pretends a burnt log is a doll. And in the title story, a retired husband and wife convince themselves and others that they have died, and then attend their own funeral. Ames' characters are at once vile and charming; together, their stories humorously capture the angst-ridden, tentative business of connecting with others.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)