Some of Us Had Been Threatening Our Friend Colby (Donald Barthelme)

When I was a young child, my father would point at things he didn't like, put on a Russian accent and shout "you capitalist pig-dog!"

He would shout it at the tax man, his boss, the milk when it didn't open properly, the cat (confusingly) and anything else that frustrated him. Especially the cat, which caused her a crisis of identity. Was she a cat? Was she a dog? A pig? A capitalist? All at once? It was a dark period for all of us, except my father who went on happily shouting the communist manifesto to anyone who would listen until 1967.

I've found myself reading a lot of surreal fiction lately. I can't pick a favourite (it's The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles) because I just enjoy wandering down these roads written by these artists, marveling at each twist, each turn, each trip that befalls the hapless hero.

The latest book I've picked up is Some of Us Had Been Threatening Our Friend Colby by Donald Barthelme, a collection of short stories. They are very, very short, only a few pages in. For me this means more stories for my buck and they really are excellent. They're so short that to give an in-depth review would ruin the endings for you. Instead I'll simply insert a quote from the titular tale:

I said that although hanging Colby was almost certainly against the law, we had a perfect moral right to do so because he was our friend, belonged to us in various important senses, and he had altogether gone too far. We agreed that the invitations would be worded in such a way that the person invited could not know for sure what he was being invited to. We decided to refer to the event as 'An Event Involving Mr Colby Williams'...Colby said he thought drinks would be nice but was worried about the expense. We told him kindly that the expense didn't matter, that we were after all his dear friends and if a group of his dear friends couldn't get together and do the thing with a little bit of eclat, why, what was the world coming to? Colby asked if he would be able to have drinks, too, before the event. We said, 'Certainly'.

Barthelme is amazing at capturing the spirit of jest. If that doesn't sound like you dealing with your friends when you're annoyed with them or even just playing around, then you're lying.

Or I need new friends and an entirely new catalogue of social skills.

Either way, each of the stories is, in their own way, a testament to his skills as a writer and an artist, his ability to capture moments in his own darkly comic way. Definitely check it out (it's only £3 in Waterstones!)

Everyone has one, so why not bow to the peer pressure?

This is a review post for books, though I guess I'll also talk about television and film in here, being a media/literature student. Basically anything that fits into my bookshelf. And EVERYTHING fits into my bookshelf. Even people.

It's a problem.