‘The Pull Of The Moon’ by Julie Paul

Reviewed by Rosemary Richings

The Pull Of The Moon is a short story collection which confronts the omnipresent flaws in our family, love, and social lives. The first story, “Black Forest” has a tone that’s refreshingly casual and conversational, which transforms the story into a neutral telling-it-like-it-is, commentary, like a well-crafted theatrical monologue, steeped in realism; it accurately highlights both the humor and awkwardness of Lawrence’s conversations with his eleven-year-old daughter:

“I can wait by myself,” she said.

“No, no I’ll stay with you. I should have earlier too.”

Jenny turned around and looked at him, seriously. “Daddy it’s okay.” She lowered her voice. “I’m a woman now.”

Julie Paul is the master of showing a character’s vulnerability, therefore Jenny and her parents have an aura of innocence that’s easy to empathize with. As Vicki and Lawrence discuss their crumbling relationship, and they celebrate Jenny’s emergence into puberty, the focus isn’t the excitement of Jenny getting older, but the universal question of what’s next and how to handle it.

The greatest asset of “Damage” is the multi-layered complexity of its theme. It focuses on Jim’s unjustified hatred towards the neighbours across the street, whom he perceives as the “perfect” North American family, with “perfect” kids, a “perfect” life, and the “perfect” house and car. Despite its appealing complexity this story’s pace is problematically slow, but the resilience of Julie Paul’s emotionally needy characters makes it easier for the reader to keep reading.

Jim is a striking focal point but his character took time to grow on me. He’s a troubled everyman figure who faces a struggle, which speaks to diverse, contemporary experiences with abandoned hopes and dreams. At first all that emerges from below the surface is Jim’s cynicism and easily triggered anger:

Maybe he was mourning the loss of news. No longer any letters, no phone calls, just an inbox full of stupid emails about the country’s bad politics and deals on junk he doesn’t need.

One of the most effective tools of “Damage” is the profound effect of Carl’s actions and words. Carl is a reactionary counterpart that pushes the story forward, through acting as a passage into Jim’s inner turmoil. This turmoil is the cause of the story’s unpredictably anti-climactic ending, which left me wanting to know more about Jim, his family, and his neighbour Carl.

Julie Paul’s forte is capturing the universal pain of vulnerability, and it shines through most strongly in the story “Crossing Over”. The portrayal of vulnerability remains consistently genuine here, while tugging tightly at the reader’s heartstrings, until it stings inside. The story begins with the death of Gwen’s cat, Fluffy, and focuses on the death’s aftermath for the living. As Gwen suffers the grief of Fluffy’s death, Roy agrees to cross the border, and to bury his sister’s cat, in the Okanagan area of British Columbia.  The best part of “Crossing Over” is Gwen’s flighty, emotionally needy words and actions, which makes her extremely excitable inner nature captivating.

Roy is a mirror reflection of Jim in “Damage”; at first his indifference makes him emotionally distant from the reader, but his interior turmoil, which unravels at a turtle pace, will keep the reader chasing after the subtle clues to Roy’s interior motives, as the metaphorical wall hiding Roy’s bottled emotions slowly crumbles.

“Pilgrim” allows the reader to get as lost as its protagonist and narrator, Lacy, in the chaos and uncertainty of her search for belonging and identity. Lacy’s perception of the world around her is chaotically fragmented, which effectively captures her easily excited nature. Consequently the narrative moves in a zigzag, rather than a linear direction, and the reader faces the challenge of keeping up with Lacy’s unpredictable mindset that swiftly transitions from thought to thought. Despite the chaos of the narrative, Lacy’s ongoing struggles with feeling vulnerable and lost are portrayed in such a raw, intimate fashion that those that either feel lost in the world they live in, or have overcome similar feelings of uncertainty, can take comfort in Lacy’s search for a sense of belonging.

“Adios” focuses on the sudden death of Fred Poole, whose death has such a profound emotional impact on his family that it’s a memorable addition to Pull Of The Moon. The greatest strength of this story is its focus on three people, of three different generations and values, as they face the uncomfortable tension of living amongst relatives that react to Fred Poole’s death in a manner that’s completely different than their own. The most unifying aspect of the narrative is the fact that it’s told from the point of view of Simon’s mother. Simon’s mother seems as uncertain of how to emotionally process Fred Poole’s death as her son, a child too young to understand what death really is. Because Simon’s mother lacks a big picture perspective, reading “Adios” is a perfect remedy to “Pilgrim”’s chaos; the reader is there, holding Simon’s mother by the hand, as she moves in a linear direction, through the various stages of grief, trying to make sense of Fred Poole’s sudden death.

“Flip” takes the reader from “Adios” ’s focus on the death of a loved one to Claudia’s first time venturing outside her comfort zone. “Flip” ventures inside Claudia’s neurotic, introverted mind through limited dialogue. The use of limited dialogue provides the reader with the opportunity to focus on Claudia’s overwhelmingly analytical thoughts, which function like a hamster in constant motion on its wheel. Once Rodger, a flirtatious co-worker, offers to take Claudia to Cuba, she goes on a transformative journey from being a shy, socially awkward spinster, to a confident, risk-taking woman. It’s challenging to condense such a dramatic transformation into a short story format, but Julie Paul does so successfully.

Pull Of The Moon isn’t a world of straightforward happy endings. It’s a world where nothing is perfect, and people must learn to live with each other, despite their loved one’s complex flaws. Julie Paul’s Pull Of The Moon consistently succeeds in portraying such a world, thanks to Paul’s ability to capture both the warmth and the strangeness of the way people behave.

Brindle & Glass | 192 pages | $19.95 | paper | ISBN # 978-1927366325