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THE THREE WISHES
Reviewed by Laura Smith
July 2006
Sibling jealousy is at its best between devilish George and his angelic older sister Jane in Arthur Davis’ The Three Wishes.
When George notices the glowing halo that encircles his sister’s head
in the sunlight of their Tennessee farm, he is quick to inform her that
it is a mark of death that will transform her into a marble saint
before long.
George’s reasoning that all saints die young and become marble statues
quickly takes effect on his sister. The idea is born from his jealousy
toward Jane’s genuine goodness while he believes himself to possess a
wicked nature.
The idea of her looming fate changes Jane’s perception of the world to
the point where she believed, “Nothing mattered. Her life was over.
George would remain, though she doubted anyone who knew him would ever
link the memories of, ‘the girl with the halo,’ with the brother from
hell.” It is only through their mother’s interference in the situation
that George sees the good in himself and Jane’s positive outlook on
life is restored.
This tale is unique in its plot, blending sophisticated prose with a
Dr. Seuss-like moral. While George and Jane are distinctly labeled as
villain and martyr, Davis effectively brings out the virtues and flaws
in both children, indicating that neither is entirely good or bad.
Reviewed by Jane Lytle
October 2005
Nathan Roswell, a recently widowed sixty-three year old retired bus driver while the focal personality is but one of the intriguing characters portrayed by Arthur Davis.
And Davis succeeds in bringing all of them believably to life while skillfully recounting circumstances recalling to the present events that each of the regulars at Jukie’s Bar and Grille would have preferred remained buried in the past.
The reader upon passing through, “one of the remaining authentic turn-of-the century bars in Brooklyn, NY” whose antique, swinging panel doors previously graced a saloon in Tombstone, Arizona c. 1898, enters the unique world of a bar. A place where, “no one asked anything of anybody…You sat where you wanted, you wore what suited your mood, you said what you had to say or spoke not at all…”.
Within this non confrontational atmosphere the foibles of human nature and the means by which these characters either try to hide or atone for previous misdeeds provides a colorful, entertaining and insightful read.
Davis’s masterful use of comparisons goes much deeper than the literal meaning of the written words, “the bubble that has suspended the patrons of Jukie’s held onto its mystical firmness for a moment longer.
No one quite accepted the possibility that the incident might be over, or that in spite of all the gunfire no one else have been seriously hurt or that their bravery or cowardice or innermost fears had been exposed” describes more than just the end of an event as those who read this story will find out.
THE FRENCHMEN’S SHRINKING HEAD
Reviewed by Bryan Alaspa
June 2006
Humanity has always been very good at creating Hell on earth.
One of the most notorious examples of this was the brutal, insect infested French penal colony known as Devil’s Island, located off the coast of French Guiana. Opened by Emperor Napoleon III and used by France from 1852 to 1946, its 80,000 residents included political prisoners and the most hardened of thieves and murderers.
“The Frenchman’s Shrinking Head” takes place in 1870 and tells the story of a doctor and a petty thief, both with dreams of leaving alive and how destructive that ambition can be.
Bernard Costa meets the political prisoner known as Doctor DuBarry, a man who spoke the wrong words into the wrong Parisian ears and now finds himself exiled, but with special privileges given his medical training. Costa tells the doctor an extraordinary thing. He thinks his head is shrinking. The Doctor first doubts, than embraces Costa’s diagnosis, as visions of Paris start to fill his head.
“He pictured himself giving lectures on his discovery in the most distinguished classroom well at the Sorbonne. He would write a book about what he had discovered, with pictures of the patient in a progressively diminished state.”
Now all he had to do was make Costa’s delusion a reality.
Davis weaves an intricate morality tale about what ends justify the means, about how we can be transformed and transform ourselves from noble ambition to become the kind of malevolence we once despised.
Initially, “…most of the inmates had differing views on the possibility that one of them had a shrinking head. They were critical and curious, disbelieving and envious. Human nature compressed into the inferno that was Davis’ Devil's Island.”
The good doctor manages to convince the island’s commandant that Costa’s head is shrinking, as other inmates begin to see their way off the island through this transforming medical miracle. So desperate do these men become that DuBarry begins to suggest the most brutal medical treatments to induce these changes.
One way or another he is going to show that Costa’s head is shrinking. The consequences are, to say the least, devastating.
Reviewed by Jane Lytle November 2005
The phrase “what goes around comes around” could never be more aptly applied to a situation or story than to this narrative by Arthur Davis.
Ricardo Figueroa, a life long resident of Westvale, California, who’d spent his life successfully expanding and refining his childhood talents is described as being the, “nasty, lying kid that sat next to him and cheated on his tests and took great pleasure in turning child against child by deception and manipulation” by ‘Tubby’ Stover.
In the beginning of the story, Figueroa finds John ‘Tubby’ Stover in boxer shorts on a “street corner counting his toes”.
Aware that Tubby is an old childhood classmate who’s mental breakdown coupled with an unfortunate series of events caused the “slow spiral down until he literally hit the pavement with nowhere to go except to wait for the elements, or a speeding truck or some kid’s prank to push him across the threshold of the one last and final humiliation,” Ricardo decides to coerce him into murdering a Billy John Johnson, the only credible, honest and serious threat to Ricardo’s empire of illegal operations.
John Stover experiences the “straw that breaks the camel’s back” when subjected to Figueroa’s “combination of contempt and pity”. Using strength of character alluded to in his self described battled to conquer alcoholism and addiction to crack cocaine Stover finally takes control of his situation.
This story is a well-written narrative illustrating how the circumstances of our lives can alter with the turn of a dime.
Arthur Davis’ usual flair for understanding and empathy coupled with his writing skills has produced an eminently worthy read.
MR. STINKYSOCKS
Reviewed by K.E. Supriya
December 2006
Mr. Stinkysocks is an entertaining and riveting story about bourgeois American family life that is put to the test by the uncanny. The writing is poignant in a way that is neither maudlin nor ponderous.
Arthur Davis excels in the art of elegant commonplaces.
The plot centers around a family vacation in a sprawling beachside house on the East coast. The story begins with a dizzying drive that is ironic because the narrator’s wife is a very perspicacious and keen driver with good road sensibilities. Yet the adult command of the directions to the family vacation spot and road surfaces is undone by Mr. Stinkysocks, an amiable avuncular figure, whose charm is felt precisely because of his vulnerability to the inexplicable aspect of being an adult among children.
Davis’ story is refreshing because it provides a playful and lively account of the interaction between adults and children.
A story about the fun and occasional disturbances that accompany a family fishing trip; a girl at the helm of a fishing rod on a precipitous journey to the end of the dock is a good respite from the anxiety and distress that accompany the narrating of childhood, a pervasive phenomenon in the hustle and bustle of US culture on the go.
Mr. Stinkysocks restores the elixir of being around children while issuing a caveat that disorienting things can occur with the capacity to render the prima facie surefootedness of being an adult in fact a sort of unstable and fragile state.
Yet this state of uncertainty can be turned into a resource for replenishment if one is willing to embrace one’s own humility and small-speck-within-a-large-universe-mentality with congeniality and care.
Davis' Mr. Stinkysocks is a wonderful allegory and parable about the importance of adults not taking themselves and their mirage of perspective too seriously. While, I was taken aback by the cajoling and deprecating ribbing of Mr. Stinkysocks by his wife, I was most fascinated by Mr. Stinkysocks himself.
When Mr. Stinkysocks waxes surreal saying, “At that moment there was no doubt in my mind that I had been born here in another lifetime, suffered as had this most singular of my ancestors and for some mystical reason been granted, with the cooperation of this tolerant and very brave animal, a window into my past,” I felt myself gathering the strength to open myself to precisely those experiences that would make me want to stay close to the innocence of childlike mystified stupor about our origins for perpetuity.
Davis’ story of Mr. Stinkysocks is like a dose of tonic for somber adult-heavy times, and it has the tremendous healing energy to make us feel more connected to where we came from and, may I dare say, where we are likely to return to!
A MILLION DOLLARS
Reviewed by Megan Lohne
March 2009
Intrigue, mystery, and pleasant anticipation combine to create the engrossing atmosphere in Arthur Davis’ tale of, "A Million Dollars."
The reader is tentative of the relationship between Jonathan Cantor and Ms. Lowell Wainwright when Cantor himself poses, "When I first got her call I was not only skeptical, I was outright annoyed. Did she really believe she could pick up the phone, introduce herself and than get a stranger to believe they were about to be the recipient of such a large gift?"
However, the first glimpse of wariness transitions into a delightful encounter between a recently unemployed Cantor and the illustrious Ms. Lowell Wainwright. The author takes the reader on an unsuspecting, leisurely afternoon journey beginning at The Stanhope Cafe in New York City, and meandering through the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
As they tour the treasures of Egypt and exchange perspectives on Rodin's genius, conversation brings them closer, seemingly more trusting of each other. However, the two are not simply sharing in sightseeing, a greater reason unites them.
It seems that Ms. Wainwright has a penchant for handing out a million dollars to people she chooses at random from the phonebook. Mr. Jonathan Cantor is the newest phonebook find.
The narrative in Davis', "A Million Dollars" is graphic and compelling, creating a warm and inviting atmosphere for the reader to crawl into.
I found myself fascinated by the believability of the encounter between Wainwright and her presumptive ward. The writing was smooth and emotionally truthful. Cantor himself navigates a rollercoaster of emotions ranging from joy to deceptive anger. Davis puts a finger on the pulse of New York City that in and of itself becomes a character in the story.
With tones reminiscent of Dorothy Parker's short stories and a calm cynicism underlying the relationship, "A Million Dollars" is a must read.
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