About
Author: Quim Monzo (Spain)
Genre: Relationships
Setting
Place: Unspecified
Time: 1993
My Rating (see what this means)
My Subjective Rating: 3
My ‘Objective’ Rating: 3.08
Introduction
Only a couple stories in Quim Monzo’s short story collection ‘Why, Why, Why?’ have something that can, under certain qualifications, be classified as healthy in a relationship. And even then they are the smallest specks of healthiness – say – optimism that this relationship might be successful, or an unrecognized sacrifice that shores up a relationship. Most other protagonists find themselves unsure, unhappy, unsatisfied, regretful about the turn their relationships are taking or has already taken.
Sex is often central to several stories. Love is less around – and when it might be there – the protagonists deal with uncertainty that it might just be lust? Through his collection of very short short-stories, Quim Monzo explores the intricate dynamics in unhealthy relationships in a crisp, fresh book – which is engaging, entertaining and thankfully non-repetitive.
Do all stories in the collection work? They don’t. And they don’t have too – as those that do are numerous enough to carry the weight of the book.
Synopsis
The stories in the book can be grouped into 3 categories – the largest which form ~2/3 of the 30 stories in the book are about relationships – from bad to worse. A handful of the longest stories are a play-on-time-compression biographies of average men – which zooms in and out of their lives in an elegant experimental way, and the last set of stories are fairy tales extended beyond their happily ever afters. An occasional few are difficult-to-classify tales.
For me – the first two sections work – the stories are enjoyable. The fairy tales section – not so much.
What one can conclude reading the book is that relationships are hard. People have to deal with doubt, disappointments, regret, insecurity and what not. Breaking them off seems easy. Keeping them together becomes thankless hard work. There is not much hope the book leaves the reader with about relationships. But it is not a sad or depressing book. It is, rather, a refreshing read – worth giving a shot at. And relationships – the characters don’t give up on them for all their failures – neither should anyone!
Picture Credits:
- Cover Picture: https://www.statcan.gc.ca/o1/en/plus/3640-are-canadians-feeling-connected-some-insight-satisfaction-personal-relationships