Page 10 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, June 6, 1986
Books
One Way or Another
Peter Cameron
Harper and Row Publishers
Hardcover, 181 pages
$15.95
One Way or Another is not a book to
read if one wants peace of mind. The
14 stories are disquieting, in spite of
(or perhaps because of) their comfor-
table, suburban settings. Their im-
pact is not immediate; as a matter of
fact, the plots almost slip away un-
noticed. The shock comes later - and
it is one of recognition.
Author Peter Cameron's theme is a
disappointment. From Melissa, who
spends her wedding night in a hotel
lobby, to the woman whose lover
"promised me that if he stayed sober
for two years we would get married.
But he was drunk then . I think
he's forgotten about it," no one gets a
happy ending, a reasonable sub-
stitute, or even something worth
complaining about. Life merely con-
tinues.
O NE W AY
AOTHE
PETSR CAMERON
A HER
The most compelling thing about
these stories is their elusiveness. After
reading a few, the reader is forced to
ask "What happened?" Perhaps a
few will ask "What's the point?" Ad-
mittedly, it takes a while to come up
with a summary less vague than "It
made me feel strange." But because
these stories are not easy to grasp,
they are also not easy to forget. Why,
for example, has the teenage boy in
"Memorial Day" refused to speak to
his mother and stepfamily since his
parents' divorce? All he tells the
reader is "Actually, I talk quite a lot
at school, but never at home. I have
nothing to say to anyone here." In the
end, he decides to speak to his
mother, but she stops him-"Don't
say anything yet." Again, why? The
complete feelings arising from losing
one's home and family must be
gleaned from what observations and
comments are offered.
There is an occasional superfluous
detail and a somewhat tiring fondness
for homosexual lovers (although this
does not mar one of the better
stories, "Jump or Dive"). A more
serious flaw is a lack of differentiation
between main characters that makes
reading one story immediately after
another somewhat confusing (and
tags like homosexuality arbitrary and
trite) - after all, the voice of an out-
of-work actor should differ from those
of a seventeen-year-old boy and a
woman entering graduate school.
This is not to say that the characters
are not well drawn within each
story, but that when considered as a
group, they lose uniqueness, to the
point of serving as mere wooden
dummies for Cameron's thinly
disguised voice.
But in spite of this, Cameron's
straightforward, clean prose and
knack of feeding the reader bizarre
situations in spoonfuls of average ex-
perience makes this book worthwhile
-if one enjoys puzzling out the
significance of events and the costs of
modern living. It is the sort of book
that was meant to be set down often,
as a reader seemingly stares into
trees, sky, or water, wondering why
the book's strangeness is so familiar.
-Rebecca Chung
Go to bat
against
Birth
Defects
Support the
March of Dimes
BIRTH DEFCTS FOUNAION
FRIDAY
Campus Cinema
Flesh Gordon (Ziehm & Benveniste,
1975) AAFC, 7 & 10 p.m., Nat. Sci.
Invasion of the Bee Girls (Denis
Saunders, 1975) AAFC, 9:30 p.m.,
Nat. Sci.
The Desk Set (Walter Lang, 1957)
AltAct., 7:30 p.m., MLB 4.
Bringing Up Baby (Howard Hawks,
19381 Alt. Act., 9:30 p.m., MLB 4.
Love in the City (Federico Fellini,
Michelangelo Antonioni, Dino Risi,
Alberto Latuda, Carlo Lazzani &
Maelli Zavattini, 1953) CG, 7 p.m.,
MLB 3.
Voyage to Italy (Roberto Rosellini,
1953) CG, 8:45, MLB 3.
Paris, Texas (Wim Wenders, 1984)
C2, 7 & 9:30 p.m., Aud. A.
Performances
Sly Fox: Performance Netowrk.
Also, June 7-8, 12-15, & 19-22. Perfor-
mance time, 8 p.m. Performance
Network, 408 W. Washington. For
more information call: 663-0681.
International Folk Dancing: U of M
Folk Dancing Club. Angell Elemen-
tary School 2nd floor gym, 8:30-10:30.
For more information call: 665-0219.
Bars and Clubs
Mingao- The Ark.
Willie D. Warren and the Blues
Cruisers - The Blind Pig.
Son Seals -Rick's American Cafe.
* Speakers
Richard Sears-A discussion on
globular starclusters, followed by the
film Star Clusters.
SATURDAY
Campus Cinema
Mirage (Edward Dmytyryck, 1965)
THE LIST
AAFC, 7:30 p.m., MLB 4. Council for Traditional Music and
Spellbound (Alfred Hitchcock, 1945) Dance. See Saturday's listing. TUESDAY
AAFC, 9:30p.m., MLB 4.
Koyannisqatsi (Geoffry Reggio, U Bars and Clubs Campus Cinema
1983) Alt. Act., 7:30 & 9:30, Aud. A.
Last Tango in Paris (Bernardo Ber- Lana Pollack Fund-raiser-The Quadrophenia (Frank Roddam,
tolucci, 1973) 7 & 9:30 p.m., MLB 3. Ark. 1979) AAFC, 7:34 & 9:30 p.m., MLB 3.
Comfort and Joy (Bill Forsyth, Quadrophenia (Frank Roddem,
1984) C2, 7:30 & 9:30 p.m., Nat. Sci. Furthermore 1979) AAFC, 7:30 & 9:30 p.m., MLB 3.
Destroy She Said (Michel Duras,
Performance Rockclimbing trip to Grand Ledge 1969) Eyemediae, 8 p.m., 214 N. Four-
- $42. Advance registration required. th Ave.
764-3967.
Sly Fox: Performance Network. Central America Course - Performances
(See Friday's listing.) Discussion on 6-week course offered
6th Annual Ann Arbor Festival of
Fh Annguan A nnArborFesalArbo by the Social Concerns Committee of 6th Annual Piano Competition:
Folk Song and Dance: An rA ror the First Unitarian Church on the Young Keyboard Artists Association.
Concilfor1:3TraditioaltMusItandgeography, politics, and history of See Monday's listing.
Dance. 8-11:30 p.m., Forsythe Inter- Central America. Preceded by the
mediate School. For more infor- documentary "Witness to War." 1917 Bars and Clubs
mation call: 769-1052 or 668-0568. Wa-htenaw, 6 p.m.
1
1
Skin of Our Teeth: Ann Arbor Civic
Theatre. 8 p.m., Lydia Mendelssohn
Theatre. For more information call:
662-7282.
Bars and Clubs
Open Mike Night-The Ark.
The Flies - The Blind Pig.
Buzztones-Rick's American Cafe.
Speakers
Mark Green: Professor at
Polytechnic University will speak on
the "Stereochemical and other struc-
tural effects on chain stiffness in
polyisocynates." Macrocolecular
Research Center Special Colloquium.
Chemistry Building, rm. 1403. 12 p.m.
THURSDAY
Campus Cinema
Guazapa (Tools for Peace & Justic-
e in Central America and Eastern
Carribean) - A film depicting
everyday life in an FMLN-controlled
zone in El Salvador, 7 p.m., Michigan
Union, Pond Room. Admission is free.
Cousin, Cousine (Jean Charles Tac-
chella, 1976) AAFC, 7:30 & 9:15, MLB
4.
Performances
6th Annual Piano Competition:
Young Keyboard Artists Association.
See Monday's listing.
Bars and Clubs
Fabulous Dyketones - The Ark.
Before or After - The Blind Pig.
Tracy Lee and the Leonards -
Rick's American Cafe.
For more information about events
around town see The Calendar on
page 14.
Bars and Clubs
Dick Seigel - The Ark.
Karl Hildebrandt Farewell Party -
The Blind Pig.
Son Seals - Rick's American Cafe.
Furthermore
Introductory Canoeing Clinic -
Argo Park, 1-4 p.m. $10. Advance
registration required. 764-3967.
SUNDAY
Campus Cinema
No films.
Performances
Sly Fox: Performance Network.
(See Friday's listing.)
8th Annual Ann Arbor Festival of
Folk Song and Dance: Ann Arbor
MONDAY
Campus Cinema
No films.
Performances
6th Annual Piano Competition:
Young Keyboard Artists Association.
University School of Music Bldg., 8:30
a.m. - 5:30 p.m.
The Language of Eroticism -
Eyemediae, 8 p.m., 214 N. Fourth
Ave.
* Bars and Clubs
902 - The Blind Pig.
Dick Solberg and the Sun Mountain
Band -The Ark.
I-V-I Orchestra with George
Bedard - The Blind Pig.
Mission Impossible - Rick's
American Cafe.
Furthermore
Introductory Camping Technics
Clinic - $4. Advance registration
required. 764-3967. 7 p.m., at the
NCRB.
WEDNESDAY
Campus Cinema
No films.
Performances
6th Annual Piano Competition:
Young Keyboard Artists Association.
See Monday's listing.