Beer and Confessions
John O'Toole

By Alyce Wilson

John O'Toole's collection of short stories, Beer and Confessions, can be read as variations on a theme, with character names, situations and settings recurring, telling similar stories of loneliness and desire.

Mostly set in a looking-glass, off-kilter version of Chicago, the stories explore such themes as unrequited love, troubled family dynamics, and coping with disability. The stories are peopled with spinster aunts (often named Alice and Marylouise), who drink heavily and are given to acerbic comments. Earnest protagonists, usually male, must face harsh realities. The young women of these stories, though sometimes capricious, often possess a strength of purpose the protagonists lack.

O'Toole makes effective use of humor, as in "Amy: Troubled Teen," where a lay counselor strives ineffectively to reach a teenage girl with criminal tendencies. Even some of his darker stories contain elements of humor.

By contrast, "A House Unfit for Company," is a heartbreakingly realistic story where a husband argues with his wife over his learning-disabled brother. Similarly, in "Dark Scar" a young boy accompanies his teenage sister to an ice-cream parlor, only to be left behind while she goes off with an older man.

While many of these stories are told realistically, some delve into fantasy worlds. In "Rope Tricks," a catatonic woman does rope tricks, eventually unsettling a small family-owned carnival. And in "Body of Christ," a high-school dropout's wish comes true, forcing him to face a bizarre religious crisis. "The Waiting Room," previously published in Wild Violet, tells a story of a young man living in a dystopian future.

In Beer and Confessions, O'Toole calls upon imagination to explore common yearnings. His characters, regardless of age, share a childlike perspective, where reality and a skewed dream world are equally plausible.

Rating: *** (Good)

StoneGarden.Net Publishing, 2006: ISBN 1-60076-013-9