Nice Big American Baby

Judy Budnitz's new book of short stories, Nice Big American Baby, is, as Nell Freudenberger aptly points out in her recommendation, not very much like anything else. Although it is dynamic and varies from story to story, Budnitz's voice is unusual and precise; it remains an undercurrent of its own. Casting around for comparisons, influences, or other points of reference, the writers who come to mind are Amy Hempel (for her minimalism and sharp dialogue), Margaret Atwood (for her dystopian climates and anthropological slant), Joy Williams, one of my favorite American writers (for her general strangeness and social satire -- though Budnitz is somewhat darker, less hopeful), and flashes of Lorrie Moore-style wit are sprinkled throughout:

"What was it like growing up in the South?" he'd asked once. "Were you a debutante? Did you have a coming-out party? Cotillion?"

"Oh, sure," she'd said. "Debutante balls, white dresses, full curtsies, sloe gin fizzes. I was lucky, I got spoken for early on. All the debutantes left single at the end of the night were taken out behind the barn and shot."

While this is a difficult book to pin down or pigeonhole, it isn't a difficult book to marvel at or enjoy. Budnitz traffics in contemporary, global themes. (Rarely, too contemporary; the weak point in the collection is "Preparedness," a satire of our current president that's a little too obvious; however, the rest of the story was effective enough -- and the macho, childish figure general enough -- that I actually think this story may read better in the future.) Boundaries and borders zigzag through the collection: America's physical and psychic borders, including the Mexican/American line; race; politics; and the gap between televised tragedy and reality. Perhaps the most recurrent and dramatic is the border between childhood -- here seen as almost a separate species -- and adulthood, exploring how and whether it is possible to grow up.

Although there is an occasional unsubtle detail, these stories overwhelmingly work gracefully and well. "Immersion," a somewhat bizarre vision of polio and racial integration, is emotionally engaging and balanced; "Miracle," about a jet-black child born to baffled Caucasian parents, is smart and uncomfortable in its treatment of love, identity, and race; and "Nadia" is both painful and funny in its drop-dead satirical tone. Budnitz has a knack for including one or two very striking visual images per story (a field of waving, muscular arms; salesmen shoved into an unlocked pen, proudly hoping to sell their way out; webbed feet). "Visitors," a short, powerfully unsettling story told almost entirely through dialogue, is a kind of reversal of the parent-child relationship, rich with uncanny visions and ominous momentum.

Provocative, disturbing, wry, and just plain fascinating, Nice Big American Baby is some of the best new American short fiction I've read in years.

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