Having read
other reviews of Zarina Zabrisky's IRON
(copyright
2012 Epic Rites Press), a
quartet of short stories, I was struck by the widespread admiration
her literary peers expressed for her work. Words like,
“unforgettable,” “dangerous,” and “brutal,” were most
often quoted. This is not surprising: according to Zabrisky's
biography, her formative years were spent in post-Soviet Russia. But,
one thing is clear, and, I have to agree: Zabrisky has hit the ground
running with a strong literary debut that furthers the great
tradition of Russian literature into the 21st
century.
Iron
is comprised of four stories; two mini-novellas, one short story, and
one piece of flash fiction that drop the reader into a Russia, that,
like its citizens, attempts to find a balance between its Communist
past and its hedonist, capitalistic present. “Weeping Poppies,”
begins with three young junkies in transit, simultaneously stealing
poppies to facilitate their heroin addiction while evading any
presence of authority. “The Cross of David,” opens with two women
having lunch in an upscale restaurant as one attempts to convince
another to assist in an internet retail scheme. “The Hungry Duck,”
starts with an ultimatum given to the story's protagonist, in regards
to the drunken, violent actions of her sibling. Lastly, the title
piece,“Iron,” launches the reader into the mind of an almost
bride-to-be as she, and her younger sister are unknowingly kidnapped
by a group of young Georgian youths.
The
four protagonists in Zabrisky's stories have several things in
common; they are intelligent, vulnerable, and brutally honest with
themselves. The growth of Zabrinsky's women is internal, as well as
exquisitely painful; they hold nothing back, which does not render
them likable, but, imminently believable, as in the story, “The
Cross of David,” where,the narrator, after being verbally nagged by
her friend Peggy to assist in the sale of cross pendants, starts to
reveal the truth of her refusal:
I
once wore a cross. For five years I wore a cheap brass cross. I could
still remember the blue silk thread cutting into the back of my neck.
I remembered the acidic smell of the brass. The Russian Orthodox
cross—a sticklike figurine spread-eagled on the petal-like bars. A
dead mosquito in a daisy. I believed it would save me, somehow. I
believed in the suffering and its saving powers.
I won't
take this any further, suffice it to say that the endings to all four
of Zabrisky's stories in IRON are unexpected. As for
Zabrisky's narrative style; it's not pretty, elegant, or even
classically feminine, and those are its best qualities. These
are stories about REAL people, REAL women that one can
instantaneously identify with... and, they'll get right up into your
cerebellum and STAY THERE! This is what makes IRON such a
stellar book! Buy a copy of IRON, read it, think about it, and
read it again.
IRON,
Zarina Zabrisky, copyright 2012 Epic Rites Press, ISBN
978-1-926860-13-8, 84 pages, $13.50
Article
content © 2013 Marie Lecrivain
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