What’s An Anxious Man all about?:
An Anxious Man follows our main character as he deals with financial difficulties on a family holiday.
What did I think?:
I’m always quite excited when this book rolls around in my Short Stories Challenge and it’s time to read a new story from it. I love how it’s packaged and how it’s compartmentalised i.e. divided into different sections with the headings “Stories To Read When…” An Anxious Man falls into the category “Stories To Read When It’s All Going Wrong,” which I have to laugh about – sounds slightly like my life right now! I was especially looking forward to seeing what it was all about as it won the National Short Story Award back in 2006 so I was gleefully anticipating great things. Unfortunately, I have to admit to being slightly disappointed. Don’t get me wrong, the author can write for sure, and knows how to spin a good yarn but I was left wanting more.
Our main character Joseph is on a family holiday with his wife Elise and their young daughter Darcy and is attempting to enjoy himself but he has a lot of things on his mind, namely money problems. He and his wife decided to invest an inheritance that she received and they thought they were making a wise decision but fairly recently, the markets have completely crashed and every day they seem to be losing more and more money. Joseph is beginning to feel very anxious at their predicament and makes superstitious bets with the world to prevent anything else going wrong in his life. It is only on meeting another couple on holiday that he begins to relax slightly when the husband of the two suggests that the markets might still pick up and they could recover their losses. However, the anxiety, obsessive thinking and worry are always there, affecting his life, his relationship with his wife and daughter and the way he views other people.
I was expecting so much more from this short story than I felt that I got from it. I don’t mind at all reading a story where very little happens, in fact I occasionally prefer an intimate character study over a thrilling plot if it is done correctly but I don’t really feel like I got enough of that in this narrative. I didn’t really care for Joseph, Elise or the other holidaying couple – in fact, the most interesting thing in the story might have to be a fight over a couple of lobsters and even then, I didn’t really feel as excited about that as I perhaps should have. I don’t think it was the financial aspects of the story that put me off, nothing too intricate or complicated in that way was discussed (which was a relief!). I’m trying to pin down exactly what it was and perhaps it was simply not being bothered about the characters? Who knows! The writing is obviously great, definitely award-worthy and one scene in particular when Joseph is swimming across a lake was especially beautiful but generally speaking, I just don’t think this story was my cup of tea.
Would I recommend it?:
Not sure.
Star rating (out of 5):
NEXT SHORT STORY: Word Processor Of The Gods by Stephen King from the collection Skeleton Crew.
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