The View from the Seventh Layer (Vintage Contemporaries) [Paperback]

In a recent interview, Kevin Brockmeier described his approach to fiction in a way that could serve well as an apt summary of the contents of his captivating new short story collection: "I suppose I navigate the tension between the realistic and the fantastic largely by failing to recognize it," he observed, "though I don't know whether I would call this a working method or a blind spot. Typically, when I sit down to write, any fantasy I turn my mind to very quickly begins to seem stitched through with realism." By any measure, reality and fantasy mingle inextricably and with apparent ease in these 13 memorable stories.

THE VIEW FROM THE SEVENTH LAYER contains four stories explicitly labeled "fables" that are among the most affecting in the collection. From a mute in a city where "everyone had the gift of song," who raises a collection of parakeets to share the sounds of his life ("A Fable Ending in the Sound of a Thousand Parakeets"), to a man who "happened to buy God's overcoat," only to discover the myriad prayers of humanity it housed ("A Fable With Slips of White Paper Spilling From the Pockets"), these stories boast the charm of a children's tale (not surprising, considering Brockmeier has authored two children's books) and yet are rich with mature emotion.

The most strikingly original story in the collection is "The Human Soul as a Rube Goldberg Device: A Choose Your Own Adventure Story." It begins with the simple act of a man returning milk to a refrigerator. At the end of that two-page scene, the reader in effect becomes the protagonist of the tale, offered a choice between putting his "shoes on and going out for a walk" or "spending a quiet morning at home." Depending on that choice, and one made at the end of each subsequent scene, the reader is moved forward or back through the text until all choices eventually lead to the same ending, encompassing a heartbreaking tableau, "fading like a plume of smoke into the broken red skies of the city." Although the full piece covers 60 pages of text, the unique stories ensuing after each choice are much shorter, and the permutations of the tale feel infinite, inviting rereading in a spirit of experimentation and fresh discovery.

Several of Brockmeier's stories are sharp and perceptive character studies. In the title story he introduces Olivia, a reclusive young woman who sells maps on a lush tropical island, her life the encapsulation of loneliness. "She would not been surprised," Brockmeier writes, "to learn that she had become invisible." Olivia categorizes people by the types of books they read, removes insects from the home of the widow who lives next door, and dreams of someone she calls "The Entity," who she imagines someday will come to claim her and end her emotional isolation.

Another moving story is "Father John Melby and the Ghost of Amy Elizabeth." In it, a priest whose sermons are noteworthy principally for the yawns they induce in his congregants is visited by the spirit of a young woman who confesses, "I've wasted my life." For a time, her presence inexplicably inspires him to heights of spellbinding preaching, but when he rejects her presence he reverts to his former self, "damned by the purity of his devotion."

Not all of the stories here dabble in the fantastic. "Andrea Is Changing Her Name" is a wistful story of unrequited love, while "The Lives of the Philosophers" presents Jacob, a young professor struggling to complete his Ph.D. thesis on Thomas Aquinas and Friedrich Nietzsche at the same time as he tries to come to terms with the pregnancy of his girlfriend.

While not overt in his comic sensibility, Brockmeier demonstrates some startling flashes of humor. Most notably, in "The Lady With the Pet Tribble," he pays homage to the venerable Chekhov short story, at the same time crafting an ingenious plot that will appeal to the most ardent fans of "Star Trek."

In the end, a gentle, ruminative quality unifies all of the stories in this book. There's an incandescent beauty to Brockmeier's prose, one excerpt of which, from the story "The Air Is Full of Little Holes," offers a fitting benediction to this abundantly satisfying work: "But occasionally, by the grace of God, the world turns its face to us, uncovering its perfection, and though the glimpse we are given never lasts longer than an instant, we remember it for the rest of our lives."

--- Reviewed by Harvey Freedenberg (mwn52@aol.com)

The new short story collection from Kevin Brockmeier, The View from the Seventh Layer, is difficult to pigeonhole for these stories defy ready classification. Not strictly fiction genre nor completely science fiction, the author describes the collection thus: "The View from the Seventh Layer is not strictly or even primarily a work of science fiction; in a collection of thirteen stories, I would say that four of them fall squarely within the science fiction and fantasy tradition, four of them squarely outside, and the other five straddle the border, some leaning most of their weight toward realism, some toward fantasy or science fiction."

It's difficult to fully explore a collection of stories in a limited review; therefore, I've chosen to focus on two that stood out on initial reading. "A Fable Ending in the Sound of a Thousand Parakeets" is barely eight pages long and yet it hits with enough force to bring the reader to a full stop. The first story in shares a mute man's experience of living in a town where everyone communicates through song. He is "...the only person who was unable to lend his voice to the great chorus of song that filled the air."

Is this deceptively simple tale of the ultimate outsider placed here to invite readers to slow down and savour Brockmeier's tales or, by beginning his collection with a story of a man who can't speak, is he raising flags to remind readers they need to look beyond the basic meaning of his words?

"The Air is Full of Little Holes" explores the life of a woman pictured in a "magazine with a yellow border around the cover." The gentle story of a family is at odds with the ugliness which appears when western expectations meet a traditional ways of life.

The thirteen stories in The View from the Seventh Layer reflect a writer comfortable in his skin, unafraid to take risks with his characters and plots. These aren't simple stories yet readers who invest their time will be richly rewarded.

Armchair Interviews says: Excellent short story collection with a strong impact.

The stories are real enough to bring tears to your eyes and fantastic in a way that makes you never want to leave. I can't wait for his next book- although there is something profoundly sad and a little disturbing about his writing. Reading "The View from the Seventh Layer" is like taking a vacation in an Escher print, and coming home to a Dali painting.