Even with your eyes open and the book firmly in your hands, you might think you’re dreaming as you read The Breakdown So Far. The collection of ultra-short stories by M.A.C Farrant is a quirky hodgepodge with a distinctly other-worldly quality.
Farrant herself references this dreaminess in the story “There was a Forklift.” One bird plays bingo; another, dressed in leather, reads poetry. The story, a nine-sentence series of images, ends: “Perhaps, in dreaming,
something new….”
The collection is saved from total goofiness by hints at social criticism and the occasional simple, down-to-earth story: a woman picks up her ancient car from the impound lot; a couple is hounded by a man who wants to replace their roof; a writing group meets in a garage where a “silver Toyota Corolla was suspended overhead like a mechanic’s idea of a cloud.”
Farrant’s writing is warm and witty, which helps make some of the more obscure stories accessible. Even the handful of baffling pieces don’t drag the collection down. While almost 75 stories make up the volume, few are longer than a page; some are a single paragraph. Farrant’s format dictates that she be concise, and she manages to make these stories feel very whole and rounded, despite their brevity—no small task.
As with dream interpretation, the stories that make up The Breakdown So Far can be appreciated at face value or dissected for deeper meaning. Unlike dreams, though, these wacky and wonderful images will stay with you for days.
