Even people whose lives look full of drudgery and unhappy routines may have lots more zipping through their minds than anyone would guess. In an impressive short novel, Hide Your Life Away (2008, Meanwhile Studios, Canada, 142 pages), first-time author Carol Little shows a flair for dialogue and detail that bares the turmoil below dreary surfaces.
The author did much of the creative work when joining the International Three-Day Novel Competition on a long weekend in 2007. Similarly, her characters led by Jason Mahoney, a 32-year-old grocery-store stock-boy with more problems than solutions, experience plenty within a few days.
Jason's short-term ambition calls for relaxing and enjoying a new Star Trek DVD, but he has difficulty even at this simple task. Lazy, unkempt and notoriously unreliable, he defies the leading-man stereotype. When problems loom, his best solution is crawling onto a store shelf and hiding behind the breakfast-cereal boxes.
Yet co-worker Debra Springer patiently pursues him for marriage, children and big commitments. As Debra says, “I think that even though we don't have any money, we could raise a nice kid because we're honest and kind and we'd be good to him. Don't you think that's all the world really needs?”
Jason's best friend, Random Michaels, prone to a brand of flawed reasoning that leads to a risky, late-night, roof-repair job, adds to the confusion and turmoil.
“Jason caught the scent of Random's breath for the first time that night. ‘Have you actually been drinking?’ he asked with disgust.
‘Not really. I only had three Coronas. I wouldn't call that drinking.’
‘But you drove here, you asshole! You drove me here! To work on a roof! What kind of a moron gets drunk before he works on a roof?’ ”
These folks come from undistinguished backgrounds. “Jason added, ‘…by dumb luck, I was seated next to Random in math class. I think he was the only person as stupid as me in the room.’ ”
Little sets this tiny book in an unnamed Canadian town based on her observations mainly in Summerside, Prince Edward Island. A chance encounter started everything.
“The original idea was inspired by a glimpse of a tired, bitter-looking cyclist smoking a cigarette,” Little said. “The irony of smoking while exercising struck me with such paradoxical beauty that it wouldn't leave me. So that blurred, fleeting image, caught in the corner of my eye as I drove past, stuck with me and festered in my mind….”
Therefore, Jason makes his “usual rush hour bicycle trek to the supermarket. He fought with Friday morning city traffic, waving his fists as he wove in and out of the lane. He cursed around the cigarette in his mouth. He panted and coughed and inhaled black cigarette smoke in hard sharp fits.”
Thirty-four-year-old Little, a busy mother of toddling twin girls, spins the mundane intricacies of her characters' daily lives into a pleasing blend of comedy and tragedy. Realistic dialogue and familiar details make the readers feel like honest-to-gosh participants.
“Debra was back in 20 minutes with bags of fresh food. She started cooking breakfast and brewing coffee while Jason and Random sat on the couch watching Looney Tunes.
“ ‘Bacon is the sexiest smell in the world,’ Random said as he scratched his right leg as forcefully as a dog. ‘I swear, if they made a perfume that smelled like bacon frying, even the ugliest woman wouldn’t have a hard time getting a man.’ ”
The book cover shows Nathan Wiley, a real-life music star, in the role of the distressed Jason. Wiley happens to be the author’s cousin.
Hide Your Life Away was nominated for the Montaigne Medal and won an Eric Hoffer Award for general fiction. It competed as a finalist at the 2009 Indie Book Awards.
When not writing fiction, Little toils on a future poetry collection tentatively titled Ruminations on Love and Loss. Her next novel, A Life Within Limits, should appear in 2010 or 2011.
Like most short novels, Hide Your Life Away ends much too soon. Readers will finish the final pages craving hundreds more.
Approval rating: 82 per cent.
For more information: www.carollittleauthor.blogspot.com or www.meanwhilestudios.com.
(August 31, 2009)
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