Wendy Brenner: Phone Calls From the Dead
The Anomalist B
Nipple D
The Human Side of Instrumental Transcommunication D+
Four Squirrels A+
Are We Almost There B
The Cantankerous Judge
B
Mr.Puniverse B+
Mr.Meek C
Awareness B+
Mr.Puniverse
Wendy Brenner is an expert at
creating images in the mind without giving the reader too much insight into
what the character is actually like. She creates an older gentleman in the
story. We are never given his real name, only that they call him Mr.Puniverse
after entering him in a pageant for men who should not normally enter pageants.
On top of that the reader learns that the unnamed man has just returned from “A
Midwest state of mind” trip where he traveled to an unnamed Midwest state
recently. Without giving too much detail or reading into the character is very
elusive, this further draws you into the story wanting to know more about this
mystery man.
Wendy Brenner also uses a very
unique narration in this story. The narrator Jason, a buff tan man who thinks
he can take on the world, throughout the whole story unveils what happened using
the word “you” as if he is speaking directly to that person. The narrator would
say things like, “After you had given everything out, you turned to me.” This
brings the reader to believe that Jason is talking directly to Mr.Puniverse
about the things that unfolded during the time he was absent.
Another
interesting quality this story was given is that it circles back around to the
beginning. As previously stated, the narrator uses “you” to make it sound like
he is talking to Mr.Puniverse about what unfolded. The story begins in the
office as Mr.Puniverse comes back from his trip and then launches backwards to
the first time Jason met Mr.Puniverse. from there the reader is taken through a
bunch of events in their past that leads back up to the day before Mr.Puniverse
came back from his trip. I think this is a very unique and interesting way to
set up a story because it gives the reader vital information at the very
beginning them throws them into the dark and they want more.
Four Squirrels
Wendy
Brenner gives human like qualities to these four squirrels and various animals
around them. Lizards do push-ups, birds talk about politics, and squirrels are self-conscious
about how they look because they want to get laid. This lets the reader relate
to their situation a little bit more and sympathize with the animals.
There are two different
perspectives in the story. Part I comes from Marv the squirrel, who is the most
level headed in the group. Part II comes from the perspective of the vet who untangles
the squirrels at the end of the story. These two perspectives on the situation
does a great job to relate the story to our lives. Both groups ended up in a
place they did not mean to be in unintentionally. Also, at the end the vet thinks,
“whether in some nameless but essential way they were meant to be together.” In
part I Marv wonders the same thing. This does an excellent job to bring the
story full circle and really get the reader to think. Wendy Brenner uses her
unique writing to give meaning to something as small as four squirrels tied
together and that is why I really enjoy this story.
Nipple
I did not
enjoy the story Nipple by Wendy Brenner. I found this to be a tough read due to
the structure of the narration. The main character Lori comes to school with a
tale about how she has her uncle’s nipple in an envelope because it fell off in
the shower. This is about as deep as the story goes. There is little talk about
not only the nipple, but the mental problems this little girl obviously has to
decide to take her uncle’s nipple out of the shower and bring it to school for all
her friends to hear about. There is a lot of breaks in the story as friends
decide to leave the lunch table in pursuit of other prying engagements. They
are in high school and there is a lot going on, but since they are at lunch at
this current time you would not expect this hectic of a schedule from these
young girls.
The use of
the word “like” is without a doubt exhausted in the story. As I am aware young
teenagers enjoy using the word “like” even when it is unnecessary, but Wendy
Brenner takes it to a whole different level almost making it comedic how many
times she could stick it into a sentence. I think that this also contributed to
the break down in the story, not allowing the reader to become immersed but
rather ripping them out of the narrative every time the word like was used.
This was my least favorite story in the collection for many reasons but the
biggest one was the lack of depth this story carried.
More information on Wendy Brenner
Where to get her books:
You can find her books on various websites but I recommend
using Amazon
More about
Wendy Brenner
https://bookpage.com/reviews/2088-wendy-brenner-phone-calls-from-dead#.Wb7ExTtlmb8
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