In his short story collection The Man Back There and Other Stories, New England author David Crouse offers narratives about becoming. The protagonists in Crouse’s nine stories (all men) struggle with their pasts while trying to carve a place in the world. These stories, told with quiet dignity and a reticent truth, rely on the mundane aspects of the 21st century man, but do so in an effort to unfold a poignant and mature story. Crouse’s gift is in his creation of complicated, emotional men who maintain their masculinity in the face of overwhelming psychological and emotional pressures.
The collection’s title story opens in media res, recounting a brief altercation between the protagonist, Sweets, and his girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend. The author’s descriptive powers capture the story with everyday objects, simple language, and piquant imagery—a winning combination that charges the narrative with raw, emotional power. As Sweets struggles to understand his regret for his violent actions, his girlfriend, Sharon, struggles with understanding her instigating role in the bar brawl, inevitably raising questions about the couple’s relationship.
In “The Castle on the Hill,” Barry, a dogcatcher, is compelled to show up uninvited at his ex-wife’s house on Thanksgiving to warn her of an unnamed and undefined danger somewhere in the world. Earlier that day, two young boys had disappeared after Barry drove past them in his truck. He immediately regrets not offering them a ride home, feeling somehow responsible for their fates. Like all of Crouse’s characters, Barry suffers from a vague anxiety that compels him to make amends for nebulous transgressions. A tale of undeserved guilt, regret, and self-delusion, “The Castle on the Hill” capitalizes on the constant threat of violence in America.
Like Sweets, who takes the role of guardian, and Barry, who fancies himself a messenger of doom, Denny, the main character in “The Forgotten Kingdom,” also struggles to find his place in the world. Though desperate for human contact, Denny finds himself stuck in a dead-end job at an ailing software company, reaching out to the only gamer who bothers to call his helpline. Through his contact with the nameless caller, Denny’s world becomes eerily similar to the world of the game he advises for: a foreign, lonely place fraught with danger.
Despite its moving and beautiful aspects, The Man Back There and Other Stories may lack a certain modicum of versatility. The reader may be struck with the notion that its characters are interchangeable and that only surface details and circumstances alter from one story to the next. However, the careful reader will also take note of the collection’s emotive power, its narrative grace, its ability to conjure an overwhelming poignancy while taking an unflinching look at the world of men.