Book Review: If the River was Whiskey is T.C. Boyle's third collection of short stories and my introduction to his writing. What a fine introduction it was! Boyle's writing is supple, engaging, energetic, rich, and about seven more adjectives, all of them good. Among the stories he brings in humor (lots of it), the bizarre (that too), tragedy, social commentary, satire, and even, as if ashamed to admit it, a touching concern for his characters. The cast of characters is wonderfully diverse: a restaurateur, a germophobic lover, a burglar alarm saleswoman, a widow and a bored housewife, the Devil, and the residents of an Alaskan bar, among way too many more. There's no pattern here, no repetition, no templates being used: Boyle's writing is individual and brilliant; I know no one to compare him to except, perhaps, his contemporary the too little known William Kotzwinkle. The subject matter of the stories in If the River was Whiskey is almost beyond description, whatever I say won't be enough; these are archetypal stories. A modern-day version of Kafka's hunger artist, a young man with a dangerous fixation on bees, a Faust story, an Irish miracle, a metaphorical polar bear club, and, may I say it? "Urk!" (Yes, you'll have to read the book to understand that one, but if you have a taste for the bizarre you'll be glad you did.) Is it a perfect collection? Well, about 3½ of the stories are flawed, slight, or average. An interesting effect is that the topicality of some of the stories has not worn well. What was common knowledge in the Eighties only lasted five years or so and has long been forgotten, weakening a tale or two. The "half" is given for an excellent story that crashed and burned in the last paragraph; endings are vital for a short story. If the River was Whiskey is a book you should read, an excellent antidote to a reading slump or to change your perception of the world. T.C. Boyle is a first-rate writer; read him just for the fun of it all. [4★]
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