House Parties by Lynn Levin
Review by Regina Guarino
House Parties is the debut short story collection of Lynn Levin, an established poet and English faculty member at Drexel University. In this 443-page collection, each of the 20 stories tell of the ordinary lives of ordinary people in search of connection. In her poetic use of language and her tender execution of character, Levin shines with her appreciation of our common humanity.
Her use of beautiful syntax, images, and metaphors elevates the tone of these masterful glimpses into character’s lives. Poetry shines through the stories, in lines that live in the imagination and beyond the page. Descriptions delight the senses and convey the beauty of humanity through the beauty of language.
In Little Secrets an English instructor yearns to reconnect with her former poet/professor lover, describing their relationship “as split and withered as a dead squash vine, and he would come to trample on its remains.” With stunning irony, the story ends, that connection dead despite her best attempts, but with another blooming.
Baby and Gorilla presents the story of a former addict with a criminal record, working in a gorilla costume, meeting a teen mom “bug-eyed, jumpier than a grasshopper, high as the moon.” Her voice is “hot with menace. Her gaze is like the muzzle of a gun.” Yet, in another ironic ending, this encounter becomes the one in which the gorilla-costumed man finds connection.
The Dirty Martini is a memorable story of a middle-aged man who seeks respite from the boredom and resentment he feels in career and marriage. Following the lead of a roguish colleague, the man makes one bad decision after another and runs into predictable trouble after predictable trouble. Because of Levin’s nimbleness in drawing motivation of the man, his wife, and his friend, we feel sympathy for him, as he seeks to fulfill his need for humanity in a self-defeating manner.
The lonely rabbinical student in Frieda and Her Golem seeks connection even as she guards her solitude. She learns how to imbue a substance like river clay or ground meat with life and creates a helpmeet to fulfill her need for a partner. Ironically, the Golem develops more and more the ability to relate to people out in the world, something Frieda herself cannot manage. Finally, when the Golem takes on a mind of her own, Frieda must take drastic action.
Evermay Blair tells the story a teacher, so wrecked with guilt that he becomes ill and changes his lifestyle. He says, “A storm of blackbirds banged inside my head.” Yet the connection he needs, with his conscience, with another human being eludes him. Levin’s skillful narration evokes tenderness in our hearts for him.
Each story in this collection makes a fascinating read. The characters make decisions they know to be not quite right, yet they are compelled to do so anyway. In the end there comes no happy ending for them. But there is a gentle landing. And, by the end of the collection, for the reader a profound appreciation of human nature.
Lynn Levin is a poet and writer. She is the author of nine books, most recently, her debut collection of short stories House Parties (2023). Widely published as a poet, Levin’s five poetry collections include The Minor Virtues (2020); Miss Plastique (2013), a Next Generation Indie Book Awards finalist in poetry; Fair Creatures of an Hour (2009), a Next Generation Indie Book Awards finalist in poetry; Imaginarium (2005), a finalist for Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award; and A Few Questions about Paradise (2000). She is co-author, with Valerie Fox, of Poems for the Writing: Prompts for Poets (2019, 2013), a Next Generation Indie Book Awards finalist in writing/publishing. She is the translator, from the Spanish, of Birds on the Kiswar Tree (2014), poems by the Peruvian Andean poet Odi Gonzales. Levin is also the producer/director of the 2017 video documentary Life on the Napo River: A Glimpse of the Ecuadoran Amazon, Its People, and Their Traditions.
Regina Guarino (left) is a writer with an MFA from Drexel University. She formerly studied linguistics and instructed learners of English as a second language. She lives in Delaware with her cute dog, Chipita. Her interests include languages and cultures, gardening, and herbal remedies.