Review 92: The Simplest of Acts by Melanie Haney

The Simplest of Acts: And Other Stories
by Melanie Haney
Copyright © 2008
$12.50 paperback
102 pages
ISBN: 978-0-557-03590-8

The Simplest of Acts: And Other Stories is a short collection of short stories. In only 102 pages, Melanie Haney manages to take us into the hearts and lives of eleven separate individuals. My hat is off to anyone who can write a short story, because as hard as I try, I am never able to limit myself to telling just a snippet of the story. Haney not only masters the short story format, but she also spins a tale rich with emotion which gives you a glimpse into another’s soul during those quiet moments in life. In The Simplest of Acts: And Other Stories, the story themes are primarily about loss and grief, however, there are moments of hope shining through. Life as seen through vignettes, Haney take you into the mind of her character, shows you what you need to see and feel, and then is off to the next story.

This is one of the few books that I have re-read before writing the review. I read it through the first time with complete enjoyment of the mastery of Melanie Haney’s craft, and then read it the second time through with an eye as to what to highlight for a review. Haney has a very strong voice which she uses in each of the pieces of first person, stream of consciousness style. She also picks those quiet moments in life, not the big parties or events, but the mother sitting at the side of her daughter’s hospital bed, waiting for the inevitable; the yearning to leave the small town life and see the world; the death of a cat; the loss of mind and more.

While I enjoyed every story in the book, I will only highlight a few of the stories which are my favorites. Haney opens the book with An Ordinary Evening, in which a mother is struggling to have an ordinary evening away from the hospital. Her daughter has been in a tragic accident and is a mere shell, and exceptionally unlikely to recover. We pick the story up at the point where the mother has maintained a vigil at the daughter’s bedside for months, only leaving to see a therapist at periodic intervals. The therapist is recommending Claire spend a normal evening at home, cook herself dinner, sleep in her own bed. In addition to this, Claire’s ex-husband wants her to consider pulling the plug because their daughter deserves to be put to rest.

I wake up alone in the bed we once shared, but didn’t last night. I muse for a moment how the conversation will go with Dr. Tanner. Will his calm and concerned expression hold steady, when I tell him our experiment in ordinary nearly ended with me sleeping with my ex-husband on the living room floor.

In Only in Bellington we meet Emmy, who is tired of working and living in a small town. She has been saving her money while working at Quality-Sure and once she reaches $10,000, she’s going to leave the dust of Bellington behind. Before her death, her mother always wanted to travel and see the world, and Emmy takes after her. While still $3,000 short of her goal, her father, who Emmy lives with, introduces a new girlfriend and Emmy considers that she has enough to move on. At the start of the story, Emmy is waiting for her break to be over, not joining those in the break room.

….. It smells and it’s loud with her coworker’s constant chatter. Who’s sleeping with who this week? Who did what in the storeroom? Where’re they going drinking this weekend? None of which matters to Emmy. She’s here for her paycheck, the weekly reminder that she’s one stop closer to leaving this town.
This town is Bellington. It is five thousand people living in five square miles of houses built practically on top of one another and a one-way Main Street that’s a quarter mile of Mom ‘n Pop stores and one Quality-Sure (purveyors of all your drugstore needs at low prices you can count on.) There’s only once chain restaurant, a McDonalds built in the sixties, whose owner panicked when rumors blew into town that a Burger King might franchise out their direction. It never came though, and to this day, Emmy asserts it as proof that you can’t have it your way in Bellington.

Only in Bellington and The Simplest of Acts are both award winning stories. The Simplest of Acts centers around the death of a beloved mother and Eve, the oldest daughter, visiting the house prior to the funeral to gather inspiration for writing the eulogy. This story in particular hit home with me as it seems that I have been to too many funerals, and the preparation that comes along with them.

One of my favorite stories in the collection is Shoes, Falling because while having a realistic view of what can happen in life, it is also the story which has the most hope, and is a little more lighthearted than the rest. Daisy, a paycheck to paycheck waitress, has fallen into a construction hole at her apartment complex and broken her ankle. Daisy is an optimist, and definitely someone who practices making lemonade when life hands her lemons. She lives in the apartment complex with her daughter Theresa, who sometimes becomes a little exasperated with her mother’s optimistic view. Perhaps I enjoyed this story so much because Daisy reminds me very much of my own mother, and like Theresa, I am ever trying to get her to see the world in a realistic way and to protect her from being taken advantage of.

The only criticism I have with The Simplest of Acts: And Other Stories is the formatting of the book. The lines are double spaced and the paragraphs are not justified. This is not significant enough of an issue to keep anyone from reading it. Reformatting the book would reduce the page count even further, which would allow Ms. Haney room to include a few more stories. Which would be a good thing because what I wanted most after reading all of the stories was more. A fantastic job by Melanie Haney.

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