Ryan Bradley posted a quick & smart micro-review of Matt Bell’s WOLF PARTS (read it here), & so I thought I would tackle the other limited-edition mini-book recently released from Keyhole Press: William Walsh’s PATHOLOGIES.
I am a big fan of William Walsh’s work – WITHOUT WAX is an amazing book, somehow bringing a new kind of sympathy to a porn-star protagonist. & QUESTIONSTRUCK, his first with Keyhole Books, a collection of question-based texts derived entirely from the books of Calvin Trillin, is one of the most dense & interesting reads I have encountered from Peter Cole & crew at Keyhole.
So PATHOLOGIES is, for a fan of Walsh’s work, another star on a rightly pin-heavy chest. It takes me much longer to get through story collections than it does novels / novel(la)s as something about the through-line, the way non-collections develop, makes them flow so much smoother, makes them so much more digestible. But Walsh’s PATHOLOGIES, in its seventeen micro-fictions, has a clear through-line & a vibrant arc, snapping certainly more towards unity than most collections I have read. This book made me very excited for his two forthcoming Keyhole titles AMPERSAND, MASS. & UNKNOWN ARTS.
PATHOLOGIES is available now from Keyhole Press ($10). Get a copy here.
great review, JA. i agree with your comments about the arc of this book. it was such a great collection with an impressive range of stories that still held together with some mysterious glue. i haven’t read william’s other books, but pathologies definitely convinced me to do so soon. great review, man.
check out WITHOUT WAX first – I think it is really something different & super good,
“Margaret Atwood had been arrested before. But he had never been arrested by a police officer named Margaret Atwood.”
“Beggars can’t be their own four-color brochures.”
thanks for adding in those quotes Tim – Walsh has a way with these kinds of phrases right?
I just started reading this last night and it’s great.
would love to know what you think of it when you finish sc,
Questionstruck, I agree, is excellent–surprisingly readable and with an odd, accreted Hunter S Thompson Gonzo effect in parts.
Looking forward to reading Pathologies.
I was also really surprised at how readable Questionstruck was, given its contructed nature.
Enjoy Pathologies,