Spoilers: Author John Devlin knows how to capture ordinary events and conversations and create plots and characters who are rich with development and meaning.
In his anthology, Bird of Paradox and Other Tales, each tale began (in his words) as “scraps of overhead gossip, a scribbled note, or the kind of boast a man makes when all bets are off.” They are based on situations that Devlin experienced in places from rural Ireland to China and Vietnam where he taught English.
Some are moving, others are humorous. All deal with lack of communication and understanding that can be found between people of different cultures, backgrounds, and genders. They can be messy, rude, argumentative, short sighted, suspicious, unpredictable, ignorant, arrogant, lustful, regretful, hopeful, confident, and enthusiastic. Most of all very understandable and recognizable.
The best stories are:
“Bird of Paradox”
In this case, bird does not refer to avian creatures in the sky. Instead it uses the British slang for women in the title, specifically one woman.
Barry is visiting his Aunt Lena, a visit that he is not looking forward to with good reason. Aunt Lena is a very contradictory and argumentative character
This story is a witty character study of an aunt and nephew. Devlin’s gift of overhearing conversation is at play as Barry is in the Tube and train station. He is an observer watching other people and overhearing their stories, making this confined area even more crowded and claustrophobic with their conversations and faces. It's a place where you can't help but hear and see everyone and everything even if you aren't a part of it.
Once Barry enters Lena's house, she is an antidote to the confinement of the Tubes. She is set apart from everyone around her. A woman who uses her bizarre anecdotes about life in a brothel, peculiarities like a fear of flies, and her opinions about everyone around her. She is an eccentric character who makes a magnetic but suffocating presence. You are fascinated by her but a little of her goes a long way.
It's an interesting dichotomy that the nephew exists to move silently around other people and the aunt is a force that commands others to move around her.
This story demonstrates the difficulties of dating and how sometimes daters speak a different language. Walter is looking to get lucky and wants to have sex with the right woman. He places a personal ad specifically looking for Asian women.
The women display various traits and behaviors but none are the right woman for him. One likes line dancing and has a large appetite. Another preferred a younger man. Another goes into a story about a troubled relationship with her late husband's brother. Another goes into long tangents about her ex never giving him a word edge wise.
These dates are humorous exercises in futility as something is bound to go wrong leaving Walter perpetually alone. It's the kind of dating scene which relies on only a few minutes to decide whether or not they are compatible enough for a night let alone for a lifetime.
This and the next story are part of a series involving Joe McKenna, a teacher at Great Wall English (GWE). The series deals with culture shock and diversity, interpersonal relationships in an academic setting, and finding common ground in a new place.
The first story involves Joe’s introduction to the staff at the GWE Christmas party in early November. Joe becomes involved in the various pairings and peccadillos of the teaching staff who could probably use some education.
Though the story is short, it packs a lot of character. From the awkward pairing of the pompous Ronnie and the mild mannered Sunny to a guy named Fat Freddy who inspires a lot of gossip,
It's a very busy, noisy, and nosey environment. There's a constant stream of chatter, movement, and color to make the Reader feel like they are among this group having small talk and trying to sound interested in the tenth person that they have been introduced to. It can be fun but draining to put on a performance.
The politeness, talk, and overwhelming tedium is broken during a fight between a couple of the teachers. This fight is a reminder that even when people are together for a common goal whether it's teaching English or having a party, differences are bound to collide and if unchecked, tempers could flare.
“Charlie Visits the Ancestral Temple”
If “The Xmas Party” celebrated the noise and chatter, this story is a comparatively simpler affair. It involves Joe McKenna and his colleague, Charlie Bell visiting an ancestral temple.
The story is both mesmerizing and humorous. Charlie is captivated by a lion dance and the souvenir pigs. Joe however is concerned about the confusing directions and tourist crowds.
People can look at one place and see something different: a sacred temple or an abandoned ruin. A colorful performance or a tourist trap. A piece of local culture or a tacky item. It depends on who is doing the looking.
This story is part of a series involving an unnamed narrator (possibly Devlin himself) teaching in Vietnam, a difficult endeavor made even more so during a pandemic.
This story in particular involves The Narrator arriving in Vietnam just as COVID hits. Besides getting accustomed to a new country and school system, he also has to take a crash course in online education and Zoom.
The Narrator is bemused as the online interactions become increasingly personalized as people do chores and get undressed during them. Social media keeps people apart but also lends them a degree of intimacy that they never had before.
The students also exhibit various behaviors to deal with the stress of being out of a social environment. They get into fights, withdraw into themselves, behave recklessly. It shows that in times of stress, people will respond in a variety of ways.
In using Zoom, the Narrator learns more about his students seeing sides that he would never have seen in a classroom.
This story does not deal with character interactions so much as it deals with setting. The Narrator describes his new neighborhood.
The Narrator is fascinated and somewhat overwhelmed by this new location with its temples, crowded streets, and ubiquitous sidestreets. It's easy to understand why he feels culture shock and out of place. It takes awhile to get used to the rhythm of a new location and that discombobulation can increase in a foreign country.
The Narrator is a great observer focusing on the various people like a mother-daughter team of restauranteurs, an efficient female barber, a woman with two dogs, and others. The people give the streets color and life. They are captured going about their daily lives through someone else's words.
Similar to “Lady Luck” this story covers dating but instead of a series of bad dates, this is a dialogue heavy focus on one bad date between an unnamed man and woman.
The two constantly talk to each other in brief question and answer format (“Do you work evenings or days.” “Evenings are sacred. I work days.”) It's practically like an interrogation or a tennis match where the two characters try to size and one up each other.
The two characters go around in circles trying to search for something in common or at least some form of connection. As their conversations get deeper and more personal, it's clear that this is one relationship that is bound to fail.
This story might have the healthiest relationship in the entire anthology and it involves mistaken identity.
Tony returns from Japan where he taught English to reconnect with his former girlfriend, Gerri. He calls her number and gets Gerri, but it's another woman who doesn't remember Tony or any of the details that he mentions.
Unlike the other couples, they click well and are genuinely interested in what the other has to say. He compliments her cosy house. She teases him about Japanese women. They share unbelievable stories that leave one another amused, curious, and probably in disbelief, but at least captivated.
The possibility of meeting again is certainly in the air. Even if she isn't the right Gerri, it's clear that she is the right woman.
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