The Accomplished Guest
Ann Beattie
Simon and Schuster
“Maybe I’ll write a story,” says Maude at the end of ‘The Indian Uprising’, The Accomplished Guest’s opening text. “A lot of people do that when they can’t seem to figure out who or what they love.” Regardless of whether such thoughts were behind Ann Beattie’s decision to write short fiction, she has certainly had plenty of practice at her craft. Since making her debut in the mid-1970s, Beattie has established herself as a master of the form, chronicling the frustrations and disappointments of WASPy types, frequently set against New England or Florida backdrops.
Most of The Accomplished Guest’s main players are baby boomers struggling to keep up with 21st-century life. Certain characters are baffled by transgenderism, while Joe, the local oddball in ‘Xanadu in Hoodie’ believes that “technology has made everything worse, because you feel like you could potentially get in touch…then instead of writing a letter, you’re looking for somebody on Facebook, and half the time they’re not there.” Maude chides her former tutor, Franklin, in ‘The Indian Uprising’: “Is this the point where I try to convince you seventy isn’t old?”
This sense of disconnection is heightened by another theme common to these stories: social visits and journeys. Here, uncomfortable truths and secrets are never far from the surfaces of conversations with friends and family members. In ‘For the Best’, we get a wry look at social awkwardness, as the gentle Gerard tries not to worry about meeting his ex-wife at a Christmas party, only for her to spring on him – while intoxicated – on his way out. Understatement works well in ‘Company’ and ‘The Cloud’ – fittingly, as they focus on male denial of illness and ageing.
Beattie has a rare talent for dry put-downs and unusual, enlightening turns of phrase. However, the book’s most memorable moments come when emotions spill over; she excels at painting, in cringeworthy detail, the kind of public scene you’re embarrassed to witness as an outsider, but that you can’t keep your eyes off even still. ‘The Astonished Woodchopper’ and ‘Other People’s Birthdays’ are biting depictions of difficult family holidays, while ‘The Debt’ – a tale of three old frat boys on an excess-laden Christmas trip to Florida – becomes the book’s dazzling centrepiece. From sex and death to a dog’s point-of-view narration (as well as what is surely the most grotesque reindeer costume in fiction), it is by turns hilarious, poignant and thought-provoking, and outshines the rest of the stories by a distance.
Indeed, The Accomplished Guest’s main fault is its inconsistency; with the exception of ‘The Cloud’, the stories in the book’s second half do not measure up to the zippy narratives of the first six or so stories. Nonetheless, Beattie’s collection is praiseworthy for making the soul ‘stand ajar’, as in the Emily Dickinson poem referenced in the book’s title. In ‘Anecdotes’, Lucia tells Anna: “you always say something unexpected. That’s why you’re a good writer.” Beattie’s collection is honest, humorous and insightful storytelling at its best.
Words – Stephen Cox
