TRTS The Michigon Daily Wednesday, October 5, 1988 Page 5 Show to serve ska, Silo stew - BY ROBERT FLAGGERT AND LISA MAGNINO Labrador By Kathlyn Davis Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux $17.95/hardcover "Children are interested in the deaths of other children: they hold those deaths up to the light and then align the contours of their own lives against them, looking for sim- ilarities. That's why the part of Little Women that gets reread is Beth's death; maybe that's why we decide that too much goodness is a dangerous thing." -Kathlyn Davis in Labrador Some parts of us never grow up. Maybe that's why we curiously identify with what pops out of Binkley's anxiety closet in the panels of Bloom County. But in Labrador, Kathlyn Davis' first novel, if you stand too close to Kitty's anxiety closet you may be buried alive. Too much goodness is a dangerous thing. Beautiful, clear and luscious in a macabre way, Davis conjures up two sisters, Willie and Kitty - short for Kathleen (come on, couldn't you have made up a different name than your own?) - are bound by blood, spells, and secrets that only sisters can share. Readers who did not grow up with an older brother or sister will have a hard time navigating the unfamiliar labyrinths of sibling hierarchical relationships: "Your hair was the color of fire and it flickered in my face as I tugged along behind you, so that I made the usual mistake, assigning you the role of source, as if all of my experiences had their first expression in your body- your eyes, your mouth, your immaculate shrug." Davis depicts incredibly sen- sitively and accurately the sexual and emotional evolution that takes place within adolescence, between sisters. In technicolor and 3-D, Kitty (one of several narrators) delivers parental favoritism, filial betrayal, am- bivalent lies, jealous admiration, and protective defence mechanisms - and mainly love, which Willie and Kitty communicate in an unspoken language more clear and illustrative than any conversation could. In contrast, the dialogue reduces adults - and children other than the sisters - with Schultzian skill, to filler, like a Charlie Brown special where all the adults can only produce words as necessary and meaningful as "wawa-waa-waa." There is one exception: Kitty's grandfather, who lives in Labrador, and allows her to be her own person, not a biological; emotional reaction to Willie. This guy kicks ass on Hobson, the Butler in Arthur. Real- ly. A strong-willed eccentric hardy enough to survive in the open tundra without becoming frigid, he melts Kitty's inhibitions. The psych- ological photographic negative of home, Labrador represents the re- flective space necessary for Kitty to take a breath and look inward. But eventually, Kitty must return from Labrador to home... and Willie, about whom she realizes, "I thought you were mine, as if I were the one asleep, and you were the dream sister, the one whose love was uncomplicated and durable." The actual story, however, is anything but uncomplicated and/or durable. For example, the Nurse-of- Becoming and Rogni, a Mother Goose witch and a guardian angel respectively, appear and disappear as quickly and frequently the book's narrators. The pair, Id and Superego personified, confuse both Kitty and the reader. As a professional poet, Davis knows the craft of defying the gram- matical laws of time, space, and tense unfortunately this doesn't always work in the confines of a no- vel. Bewitchingly, Kathleen draws us across the stages of her past complete with trap doors and impeccably gorgeous'scenery but - oops! - no play bill. It's not nice to fool the reader! But the absolutely stunning acrobatic prose (see above) allows Davis to get away with lapses of lucidity and direction. Lewis Carroll was tripping 'his face off on mor- phine and I couldffollow Alice in Wonderland just fine; whatever this woman is on, I want some. Turning each page, I wonder whether Kitty will be big or small; in the present, past or future; the protagonist,: antagonist or narrator. At times, reading Labrador is committing sensual suicide; in- undating all five senses at once, while simultaneously demanding the reader to think and interpret, is a little much to ask. Ask a wired, person, who just got high, con- tentedly concentrating on eating a perfect Taco Bell burrito, how they interpret the manner in which they relate to the world and their burrito and what it all means (while chewing) and see what you come up with. Dressing her childhood memories and adult interpretations in a con- stantly changing wardrobe, Davis creates a metaphorical masquerade as enchanting and scary as Halloween. Her prose is so layered with paint- erly themes and honest insights so hidden in myth, metaphor and make- believe connected by hiatus that only Davis can describe it best... "In Labrador, there is always too much of something or nothing at all." - Margie Heinlen PINT NIGHT A pint of beer at the price of a glass! 8 Different Choices of Draft Beer The perfect combination! ONLY AT 338 S. State Wednesday 10:00 pm-close BOSTON-based Bim Skala Bim treks into town tonight for a night of ska and reggae along with the sans Silo sound of Walter Salas- Humara. Bim,like other American ska bands, including Ann Arbor's own Street Light Knights (RIP), grew out of the English ska movement, primarily the "Two-Tone" label, which included such bands as Madness, the Specials, the Selector, the English Beat, and Bad Man- ners. Although its popularity is generally associated with this British. movement, ska actually originated in Jamaica, as a precursor to reggae. Ska quickly made its way to Britain in the early '80s where English bands were quick to snatch it up, tie it into their already interesting post-punk influences, and tighten the sound into a melodic, peppy, and all-around more operational "dancefloor delight." Bim has adopted both the reggae and ska sounds for their music, creating for themselves a sound they classified in a recent Boston Globe interview as "urban gumbo." To date, the band has released one, very well received, self-entitled album which, according to radio play lists, has been getting an enormous amount of air time not only along the east coast, but well across the bible-belt and into the west coast. If Bim's sound is "urban gumbo," then Walter Salas-Humara's solos are "down-home paella." He throws in some Latin sounds to add some spice to his otherwise bland, Indiana-cornfed rock. His first solo album, Lagartija, is disappointingly weak compared with the sturdy- as-steel sounds of the Silos. No word on how the solo Salas-Humara is live, but he successfully plowed through the Pig with the Silos last April. -Thursday, Oct. 6: Auditions for young-looking (16 yrs. old) male and female actors for a 16 mm student film; 7 p.m., Frieze Bldg. Room 2035. Call 426-5235 for further information. ---Saturday & Sunday, Oct. 15 & 16: 34th annual Metropolitan Opera National Auditions at Detroit's Rackham Auditorium, 100 Farns- worth St., across from the Detroit Institute of Arts. Three awards will be presented: a $1200 first prize, a $1000 second prize, and a $500 third. prize. Preliminary auditions will take place from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday, with concluding pre- liminary auditions Sunday morning. Final auditions begin at 2 p.m. Sunday. Auditioners must be within the following age ranges: Sopranos, mezzosopranos and contraltos 19 to 33; tenors, baritones and basses 20 t0 33. Students interested should call (313) 477-8629. Michigan Daily ARTS 763-0379 BIM SKALA BIM AND WALTER SALAS-HUMARA play tonight at the Blind Pig, 208 S. First Street. Doors open at 9 p.m., and cover is $4. RESUME SERVICE For. a resume that can do the job, depend on Kinko's. kinko's the copy center 540 E. Liberty 761-4539 1220 S. University 747-9070 Michigan Union 662-1222 (open early. open late) ANN ARBOR'S CHURCH OF CHRIST (Followers of Jesus Christ using the Bible as our only guide and authority.) Invites YOU to Worship with Us NDAY...9:30 AM, 6:00 PM 530 W. Stadium Blvd. EDNESDAY...7:30 PM Phone 662-2756 SU WE COLLEGE CLASSES ON... CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES You CAN prove that God exists, and that Jesus Christ is His Son? TRANSPORTATION INFO 662-9928 T4 W. ataUa r Hig Scool Gof Course Now That Rush Is Over... RUSH OVER TO MICHIGAN TELEFUND -Gain valuable communication skills -Speak with the University's alumn li -Build your resume -Flexible, evening. hours -$5.00-$6.50/hour plus bonuses f'A I I ""IQ_"A'Ofl