Troglodyte by Tracy DeBrincat
published by Elixir Press, 2014
Tracy DeBrincat, whom we met in a Meet the Writer feature, writes characters that are people of the earth, the kind who will comment not on ideas, but appreciate bodily processes as something to which one should pay attention. Her stories take readers to a perhaps uncomfortable place we thought we left behind when we became “adults.” I still remember a joke my uncle told me when I was a kid: two woman are hoeing potatoes in the field when one woman pulls a potato from the ground, looks at it, and says, “This looks like my Issac’s taters.” The other woman responds, “That big?” and the first says, “No, that dirty.” Ha ha ha, right? Where did this “low-brow” humor go, and why did we once like it so much? I loved that joke. DeBrincat reminds me why.
Even though Superbaby of the short story “Superbaby Saves Slugville” was “historically, a fantastic crapper,” he held it all in to keep his aunt from visiting her boyfriend while washing the cloth diapers. The family notices Superbaby is backed up, so he’s sent to the doctor. His sister isn’t sure what this trip to the doctor’s means for Superbaby: “‘Does that mean he’ll poop now?’ Trina wonders about this every morning, making great snakes that don’t break, snakes of beautiful stink and rich color.” I’m thoroughly grossed out by the passage, but let’s be realistic: how many children (or, hell, even adults) haven’t been fascinated by the various characteristics that come out of their anuses. DeBrincat calls us out on thoughts we keep hidden to remain “normal,” and makes us acknowledge who we can be from time to time.
The collection isn’t only made of “poo stories,” though. Her descriptions are quite lovely, even if the subject matter isn’t beautiful. This was a feature I loved of the collection. In “Gardenland,” Chichi returns home with her ex-husband Vince after she runs into him at a diner. She realizes she wasn’t “cured” of him when they divorced, that he’s still the same asshole she knew then: “Chichi pricked her ears to hear that piece-of-shit’s voice–the meaningless promises that flew like swallows from his red velvet tongue. She’d done time chasing after those birds, holding crumbs in her open hands while they hopped this way and that. When Chichi looked up he was there, all of him and so much of him was so much the same. The impudent slope of his shoulders, the Gothic lettering on his faded black T-shirt, the way he stood legs spread wide, like his nuts were too big to do else-wise.” Vince’s physical presence is animalistic, as if he weren’t meant to wear pants because his testicles are so….there (I’m personally picturing hairy coconuts). But he’s also capable of the sweet words of a man who leads a woman around. DeBrincat’s characters are often full of contradictions that make them pleasing to experience on the page.
Tracy DeBrincat’s collection stirs the pot of personalities and boils up the most unpredictable bunch ever. Whimsical, laugh-out-loud hysterical at times, Troglodyte is a must have for any larger-than-life woman who finds herself making decisions for happiness’ sake when sanity isn’t an option.
I want to thank you Tracy DeBrincat for sending me this reviewer’s copy in exchange for an honest review.
Sounds like fun! I should give it to my mum as revenge for all the times I was meant to be interested in her ‘movements’.
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Gah!! Lol, you’re too much! 😂
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I have a toddler right now, so my entire life is a “poo story” 😂
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You would probably love this collection. It’s very real-people.
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I have quite enough poo to contend with being the owner of two annoying cats who actually come in from outside to… ahem… void their bowels. (Reminds me suddenly of when I was seven and in hospital getting my tonsils out, and a nurse asked me if my bowels had moved that day. I wonder if any seven-year-olds would know what that meant… 😉 )
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That is weird. Maybe she didn’t want to “baby talk” at you, though asking if you pooped is hardly baby talk!
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Hahaha I couldn’t belive this was about poos XD Sounds definitely fun 😛
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The baby unleashes epic poos on the world when he’s done.
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Sounds like this one is perfect if you’re looking for a laugh. I clicked on this post because that cover is super eye catching, I wasn’t sure what was going on. You know you’re really comfortable with someone when you start pulling out the poo stories, right? Hope you have a lovely weekend!
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Aww, thanks so much! It is a really funny book, but it’s not just silly. Right now I’m about 40 pages into The First Bad Man and it just seems… silly.
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I’d recommend persisting with The First Bad Man. I reviewed it for Lip Magazine when it first came out and really enjoyed it, though it doesn’t all come together until the end. Have you read/watched July’s work before? I’m a huge fan of her short stories.
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Never read her before. I’m on page 124, and I have to say, if this went through a writing workshop, people would blast the first 50 or so pages to pieces. I’m into quirky stories, so it’s not that. I really like Amelia Gray, for example, who wrote a story in which a man married a bag of frozen fish sticks.
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I haven’t read Amelia Gray. I’ll have to look her up. I’ll look forward to your review of The First Bad Man, even if it’s not so positive (maybe especially then).
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Gray’s novel is just baffling, but her short fiction is great. I haven’t read her newest collection yet.
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