Book review: Hearing Voices Seeing Things

WILLIAM WALL’s fine short story collection is drawn from a rich imaginative palette that gives voice to the fragility and absurdity of life, the alienated, the romantically disappointed, and those at the receiving end of the cruelty of men, including a boy in a boarding school run by priests.

If that sounds depressing, Wall also shows off his mastery of satire and has fun with a couple of stories such as For Fun Times Phone Dodger. This is about an incredibly naive American guy, presumably a student, bankrolled by his father to travel. Finding himself with a 24-hour stopover and nothing to do, he spots a note in a toilet and decides to phone Dodger.

The fun involves sex which the surprised narrator refuses. But he still manages to be parted from a lot of cash in this crazy tale that hinges on laughter-inducing misunderstandings.