ARTS hThe Michiaan Daily Thursday, September 26, 1985 Page 5 F A dip in 'Greasy Lake' chills, fulfills Greasy Lake & Other Stories T Coraghessan Boyle 'Viking Press 229 Pages, $16.95 THE 15 WORKS collected in Greasy Lake and Other Stories, by T. Coraghessan Boyle, create a pyrotechnic scrutiny of man's sobering limitations. and of his frightening potential. Boyle's unset- tling black humor and wizard-like flair for characterization conjure personas that accost the reader with darker areas of the human mind. By Jacqueline Raznik The stories can be divided into four themes of human downfall: self- determination, passionate ruin, Dideological collapse, and misan- thropic estrangement. The gravity of these themes is woven with Boyle's light-hearted irony into compelling, but uncomplicated situations which often produce discomforted chuckles. In three of the stories, Boyle distur- bingly and comically illustrates what can occur when we overstep our bounds by attempting to manipulate natural order. In "A Bird in the Hand," Eugene Schiefflin, a wealthy amateur or- mithologist, becomes obsessed with bringing every bird mentioned in Shakespearian works to America. A century later, Schiefflin's dream becomes a nightmare. "The New Moon Party" is a fan- tastic and telling account of political hysteria, in which George L. Thorkelson makes the ultimate cam- paign promise: the construction of "A new moon soon." As President, Thorkelson unveils his man-made cosmic jewel. The result is horrific. In "Caviar," Nat, a fisherman, and his wife pay a medical student to be the surrogate mother of their child. They welcome the student into their home so the couple can share the ex- periences of the pregnancy. Unfor- tunately, Nat gives the freckle-face surrogate his unrequited love, and learns that the cost of an egg (caviar) is a luxury he can ill afford. Boyle brilliantly depicts the futile arrogan- ce of those who disturb the natural order. Many of Boyle's stories have a rebellious, and at times, a misan- thropic flavor. The title story relates the violent tale of 'an adolescent and his buddies' realization that they are as scrid and stagnant as their favorite hangout - the polluted, lifeless Greasy Lake. When a magnificent bird is spotted on the roof of Sidor's Grocery in t"Rara Avis," a rebellious teenage boy hatefully discovers in the bird what he refuses to admit in himself. "The Long Haul" recounts the chilling fate of a newly declared and blatantly exploited survivalist who moves his family to a cabin in Mon- tana, miles from civilization, only to find his survivalist neighbor is an ar- med psychopath. One cannot com- pletely alienate himself from society without disastrous results, as Boyle caustically illustrates. When passion clouds reason, the end can endanger more than the im- mediate people ivolved. Think of the Cold War, nuclear proliferation, events in Hungary, Korea, and the U- 2 incident. What if the cause for these tarnishes on our recent past were an unchecked international love triangle involving the heads of the Soviet and American states? This bizzare and seemingly absurd possibility examined in "Ike and Nina" reminds the reader that the President is still only a man. "In Rupert Beersley and the Beggar Master of Sivani-Hoota," Beersley is a celebrated English detective whose latest case involves the kidnapped children of the Indian nawab, Singh. Beersley mistakes the nawab's governess for the daughter of the woman who betrayed him at the altar. Revenge and cocaine move Rupert to ungrounded action leading to his humiliating and violent dismissal. Boyle frighteningly illustrates how excessive passion dreamlike (and often nightmarish) stories with his remarkable use of the metaphor. In "Caviar," he begins by contrasting spring rebirth with death. Crocuses and dead man's fingers were poking through the dirt along the walk. The image is both original and effective in creating the desired eeriness. In "Greasy Lake" Boyle mentions that a single second, big as a zeppelin floated by, a striking reference to the passage's inter- minable point in time. In "Whales Weep," a satirical account of en- vironmentalists, two mating whales are described as re-enacting the bir- thday of Surtsey, the con- solidation of the moon, the erup- tion of Vesuvius, making the physical magnitude of what is tran- spiring much easier to grasp. Irony is another skill at which Boyle is adept. In "Whales Weep" he describes an environmentalist photographer and his girlfriend. The girl is clad in a lynx coat, seal skin boots, and of course, a "LET THEM Boyle ... presents cautionary tales LIVE" T-shirt. "Greasy Lake" describes a young hood practiced in the "social etiquettes," which naturally refer to the ability to roll a joint as thin as a tootsie-pop stick while gunning a beat-up Ford over a blacktop road. An extensive vocabulary adds sub- tle and effective shades to Boyle's language. In parts, however, words that elude even Webster such as "sussurus" and "jalebis" distract the reader instead of embracing him into the fantasy. Another favorite technique of Boyle is beginning a story with a quote. Ap- plicable lines from Bruce Springsteen to Shakespeare are used as potent prologues to his stories. Greasy Lake and Other Stories is a must-read for those who appreciate philosophy, satire, and a well-crafted stories. The diversity of its subjects, themes, and settings enable Boyle to entrance the readers into his world of unnerving, thought provoking fan- tasy. leads to folly. . The fourth theme permeating this collection is the collapse of ideology. In "All Shook Up" an Elvis Presley look-alike finally realizes that the king is dead and can never live again. "Not a Leg to Stand On" recounts the moral dilemma facing a crippled man who learns of the illegal dealings supporting his nursing home. A devout Leninist in the "Overcoat II" makes the sobering discovery of the corruption plaguing Russia. Boyle's keen sense of satire confronts the reader with an unnerving picture of human foibles. Bowle succeeds in setting the Records Squeeze - Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti (A&M) At the height of their fame, which was considerably stronger back in their native U.K. than here, Squeeze songwriters Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook were being praised by critics everywhere as the next Lennon and McCartney. Although a lofty com- pliment for anyone to live up to, the off-beat, clever pop songs that Squeeze recorded made their albums uniquely diverse and pleasantly sophisticated. Three years after the break-up of this talented band, Squeeze fans everywhere rejoiced with the news that the band had re-grouped, and have been anxiously awaiting the release of the newest album, featuring the original line-up with the exception of bassist Harry Kakoulli (replaced by Keith Wilkinson). Sadly enough, Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti falls- short of anything deservant of such excitement. Taking an ultra- electronic turn for the worse, producer Laurie Latham ( Paul Young, The Stranglers) has drowned out or torn apart any of the originality of feeling this band once possessed. "Atmospheric" effects lunge in and out of the songs, and the arrangemen- ts are so scattered and disjointed that the pieces end up lacking any sort of cohesion. To make matters worse, those witty lyrical talents that earned Difford and Tilbrook acclaim seem to have vanished, as well. Knowing what Squeeze is capable of is exactly what makes Cosi so in- tolerably offensive. "By Your Side" is probably the most inane piece the band has ever recorded. Difford's soulful tenor is wiped out by studio ef- fects as he oh-so Paul Young-ly croons the lines, when you're- down and you're lonely, come onto me I'll be your only... "I Learnt How To Pray" contains such pretentious lyrics as I learnt how to pray every night to relieve the pain deep inside...and I was serious with a furrowed brow. So, who cares? Once these two songwriters concocted some of the wittiest observations on relationships ever put into a pop song, like Singles remind me of kisses, albums remind me of plans... Now, they have resorted to revealing only shallow, trite platitudes. Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti does, however offer one brief highlight - the eerie single, "Last Time Forever." Representative of the band's new- found enthusiasm for electronic studio effects, this piece is an ex- periment that does work. Copped mystery movie music and spooky ef- fects add to the song, making it rather campy and off-beat. In this song; Jools Holland's slow-motion, tinkling' keyboards, and other delayed in- struments contribute to the at- mosphere. However, on the album as a whole these studio sounds become a muddled mess in which the vocalists often seem trapped. Squeeze fans beware. Perhaps the Lennon/McCartney hype was premature. Perhaps the three year hiatus was detrimental to the band's creative health. Perhaps Laurie Latham is not the producer for the job. Most likely, the answer is all of the above. Hopefully, Squeeze will be able to "re-come-back" on a more successful level the next time they cut an album. --Beth Fertig " IN CONCERT Saturday, Sept. 28 at 8 p.m. MICHIGAN THEATER Reserved seats $12.00 at the Union Ticket Office, Schoolkids' Records, the Michigan Theater Box Office and all Ticket World locations. Dial 99-MUSIC or 763-TKTS for further information. This concert made possible, in part, by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. f E M ME GN GE'(O !f -;,-- 1 ,, - .. , & R . / Y ~ . J/ p ' i . .. r,, ...,.. \ \\\ ..: Get to the answers faster. With theT-55-ll. What you need to tackle to perform complex calcula- the TI-55-II even simpler, the higher mathematics of a tions - like definite integrals, and shows you how to use all "N And nft nvir FREE