"Everything runs into the river, he thinks. Not just the leaves, but beetle corpses and heron bones and expired worms. Everything that starts on the hills eventually slides into the river. And the river spills into the sea. Only the fish do it backward and he loves them for it."
In 2002, Scribner released Anthony Doerr's first book, "The Shell Collector." It is a collection of eight short stories that found me thinking of poets Elizabeth Bishop and Mark Strand. The book is well worth reading.
Doerr's stories are populated with displaced people: Characters who have been compelled to leave their homes and the things they know. An opportunist displaced by war. A teenage daughter of Hispanic immigrants. A magician's assistant. A woman who has always lived in the shadow of her sister's story. An unfaithful lover. A man and woman connected across continents by an all-consuming passion.
In their displacement, all of Doerr's characters are in need of redemption and healing. So at some point in each of these stories, Doerr takes his characters fishing. And there, standing in or by the water, Doerr's characters find rebirth.
My only criticism of this collection is that sometimes Doerr fails to trust his own well-crafted prose. He just can't resist telling us what the stories mean a couple of times, and the explanations are jarring. But this is rare, and the overall beauty of the stories overcomes these brief lapses.
"The Shell Collector" is carefully arranged, and I would recommend reading the stories in order. Also, while this book comes in at only 218 pages, don't expect to read through it in just a couple sittings. You will want to live with each of these works a while before continuing to the next piece in the collection.
Missouri River Regional Library does not own a copy of The Shell Collector, but patrons may use their library cards to request a copy, online or at the library, through MOBIUS. For more information about MOBIUS, contact the library at 634-2464.
Paula Schulte is the marketing coordinator for Missouri River Regional Library in Jefferson City.