“Something is in the air, something desperate and a little depraved, held together by circuits and signals and stuffed up above in the cloud.”
~“Seven Women”
Possessing an irresistible fever-dream quality, "An Oral History of Atlantis" is an absorbing collection of short stories from Ed Park. Many of the characters seemed to have unexamined interconnections, and the tales themselves feature ennui, hilarity, and self-doubt.
“Psychopaths in office casual, USC pennants on the wall. All the guys talked fast, used nouns as verbs, verbs as nouns. Surface the stipend. Table the trash. They loved to hear themselves produce language.”
~“The Air as Air”
The book has a number of standouts, including "Weird Menace," "Bring on the Dancing Horses," "The Wife on Ambien," and "Slide to Unlock," with the overall impression being that of a master storyteller at work. Park is a clever observer, imbuing his clipped sentences with meaning and humor -- making for an unforgettable read.
“In our dreams no one knows what anyone is saying. The words are all wrong but the meanings are all right.”
~“Weird Menace”
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