Thoughts on Joseph Young’s Easter Rabbit

Edward Mullany over at matchbook wrote an excellent review that I largely agree with. John Madera of Big Other wrote a review on NewPages that I largely disagree with. Between the two you’d get the idea.

Easter Rabbit is a collection of microfictions, each under 200 words and many hovering around 50. The stories themselves are wholly literary in nature, a compilation of scenes and moments focused on language and vivid (if sometimes cryptic) imagery. As the word microfiction implies, each entry is supposed to stand as a story. And here I think its use is distracting from the body of work: even coming from someone like me who uses the term “story” very loosely, these microfictions don’t really convey a sense of narrative very often. These are impressionist paintings, carefully crafted vignettes that walk the personally-drawn line between ambiguity and vagueness.

With around 80 stories that one could read in under an hour, the collection has the potential to be a numbing read. Many of stories understandably have a similar feel, the sparse dialog of a man and a woman, an image, a setting. ER demands to be read slowly, picked up and put down.

The book’s success, I think, has everything to do with how much ambiguity the reader is comfortable with. So if you’re looking for lovingly crafted sentences and some poignant moments, then Young delivers.

Sounds like poetry, doesn’t it?