YOU ARE NOT A STRANGER HERE: There is so much pain in this world

Adam Haslett’s award-finalist début is one of the best short stories collection that one came across in the past few years. It is in the same level of Jhumpa Lahiri’s “The Interpreter of Maladies”. Not that the two books deals with the same subject or that they are similar. The fact is that both young writers have found their own voice very early and it is extremely well exploited in their stories.

“You Are Not A Stranger Here” is a book that touches its reader deeply in the soul. Haslett’s characters are very human with emotional problems that are too realistic, therefore, it is impossible to read the book and be indifferent. The protagonist of the first story, “Notes to my Biographer”, for instance, is a man who suffers from depression and is trying to get back in touch with his son. In a superficial level, it is the story of these two men. However, the deeper you go analyzing it, one can realize this is the malady everyone is suffering in this Twenty-First Century: the loss of profound ties, the loss of connections.

By creating so human characters, Haslett insets himself and his work in the best tradition of a realistic and poetic approach. More than glamorizing mental and emotional diseases, like depression, he brings up the hell of having to live with these problems. It is not easy and, most of the time, there is no way out. It seems that this is the reason why his characters don’t expect for redemption. Because there isn’t such a thing most of the time.

In “Reunion”, for instance, we have a young man who is sick and sort of giving up everything is his life. He is just waiting for death to arrive. He does not expect to be saved. He knows that death is the only thing he has ahead of him. However much the motif may sound morbid, Haslett tackles it with charm and a restrained emotion — that never explodes. Other writers could simply bring a big explosion and a salvation in the end. But, most of the time, life is not like that.

Probably the most disturbing story is ”The Beginnings of Grief”, in which an orphaned boy is caught in a web of sadness and a masochistic relationship with a colleague. But, on the other hand, the story is also about manipulation. About the danger of manipulating people to do what we want. Be careful with what you wish, he might be saying — or not. Since it is such a painful story to read, Haslett may be simply trying to show us that there is so much pain in this world.

Although all stories are top notch, some are better than other ones. Besides “Notes to my Biographer”, another great moment in this book is “War’s End”. Set in England, it shows a suicidal depressive young man, who used to be a teacher, finds himself drawn into the life of a awfully sick child. This is one of the most complex narratives in the book, since it deals with the inversion of the poles. If at first the protagonist is the sick and dying character, he ends up find reasons to go on living with another dying character. And, despite flirting with sentimentalism, Haslett never lets the story drawn into such a device. He is always cautious.

The first story and the last one, “The Volunteer”, may be hints that Haslett is toying with the idea of writing his first novel. Not only the thematic, but also the approach and style, hints us that he can develop something longer than these short stories. He is certainly one to watch, and his first novel may grab one of the many awards that he honestly deserved with his “You Are Not A Stranger Here”.