Smaller Than Most
By Kristine Ong Muslim

Reviewed by CL Bledsoe

Philistine Press, 2011
ebook; free

Muslim's flash fiction collection, Smaller than Most, is divided into two sections, "Little Bigheads" and "Little Horrors." "Little Bigheads" begins with "Bigheads," a story about giant, irradiated babies. Muslim deals with the alienness of children. Parents gather, "smiling at each other like old turtleneck sweaters which sag at the right places" and are given "pamphlets with information about irradiation. Maximize the growth potential of your offspring, it says on the cover."

"Jack's House," the second story, describes pandemonium. Jack's busy household is full of life, growing and dying. Taken in conjunction with the first story, one can't help but think of a family inhabiting this crazy house.

Over the next few stories, Muslim's theme expands with stories about growing up, going to college, and entering the workforce, all with surreal slants and lots of humor.

The "Little Horrors" section begins with "How They Make Skins," a diary from a little girl describing little men who plague her and distract her from fully realizing the implications of events in the world around her, essentially keeping her "little." It is quite a terrible world she lives in, involving abuse and the death of a parent.

"Carnage & Co." continues along these lines, describing a boy whose mother has ripped out his tongue, and who may continue removing sensory organs—an interesting choice by Muslim. The mother's punishment of removing her son's tongue and apparently his eyes implies that her abuse serves to damage or discontinue his ability to interact fully with the world outside. He is affected, specifically, in the way he senses the world because of this abuse. Muslim has come at the idea of the taint of child-abuse with a fresh and very interesting surreal perspective.

The darkness of some of Muslim's stories is broken up by surprisingly beautiful and poignant lines. For example, in "But with a Whimper" she describes a small doll: “ You saw the little bride made of bone china among the black-and-white family photographs... Your grandfather held it with rough hands many years ago when voodoo was still a family vocation.” Her descriptions conjure images of loss and the distant past. She continues: "Its tiny disfigured face felt of snow and salt, remnants of the rubble with no hopes of being rebuilt." She goes on to describe the memories of abuse this doll dredges up in the narrator.

"The Taxidermist and the Girls Made of Dead Things" continues the theme of abuse. "Something grew from the bruises and the open wounds on their skin," Muslim begins. The taxidermist removes these things and makes them into something like purses, which the girls then "slung…on their shoulders." Muslim's intent, here, is quite complex. These things growing from the wounds of these girls could be interpreted in multiple ways. These things born from "the open wounds on their skin" could be children, born and presumably raised in abuse, worn as something like accessories. Or, perhaps, since these things are made into art, they are, in fact art; perhaps Muslim is implying that these girls' abuse leads them to create a kind of art from the bruises.

A recurring image in this section is that of voodoo dolls which hold some remnant of a past transgression. Muslim expands this by having other objects—flowers, the purse-things I mentioned previously—hold this same power. These talisman-items serve as reminders of abuse, betrayal, and hurts. The characters in several stories seem transfixed, staring at and even caring for these items as if nurturing their past hurts. The question of destroying these talisman-items never arises.

In these thirteen stories, Muslim creates haunting worlds, familiar and yet alien. Her characters face the beautiful and the horrible in equal measures. Muslim manages to add surreal elements to believable situations, making her stories imminently readable and enjoyable. I look forward to reading a full-length collection by this talented writer.

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CL Bledsoe is the author of the young adult novel, Sunlight, two poetry collections, _____(Want/Need), and Anthem, and a short story collection called Naming the Animals. A poetry chapbook, Goodbye to Noise, is available online at www.righthandpointing.com/bledsoe. A minichap, Texas, was published by Mud Luscious Press. His story, "Leaving the Garden," was selected as a Notable Story of 2008 for Story South's Million Writer's Award. He’s been nominated for the Pushcart Prize 3 times. He blogs at Murder Your Darlings. Bledsoe has written reviews for The Hollins Critic, The Arkansas Review, American Book Review, The Pedestal Magazine, and elsewhere.

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