Reading Aimee Bender’s Willful Creatures is uniquely emboldening. The ride is all magic and turmoil in open air, and you finish smiling, face taut from being smacked with the full range of human capabilities. Bender shows us how we all have the potential to be willful, to act unreasonably or deliberately to a fault, and how doing so can be just as heartbreaking as it is inspiring. In this collection, Bender locates and exposes the multiple layers of what it means to truly act with willful intent. Her characters open up and move the reader to understanding his/her own desires. From a man who cannot see theperfect woman, to a pumpkinhead mother who cannot help her ironhead son sleep, to a woman weighed down by grief equaling exactly the same as seven potatoes, Bender’s characters bring you into their world and expel you just as quickly with a slight whiplash that is well worth it.
Separated into three parts, Willful Creatures acts as a coming-of-age tutor. A more apt title for “Part One” might be Childhood, as the characters in this section all share an immaturity. They are mean as they torture; they are stubborn as they defy themselves; and they underestimate their emotions as they act rashly. Watch the doomed men in “Death Watch” cry, run away, beat the ground, and then completely miss out on their own lessons. Detest the big man in “End of the Line” when, after he has committed many unthinkable deeds, he stops not through an understanding of his crimes, but from a renewed selfish feeling of entitlement. Scream at the driven girl in “Off” as she drowns all of her opportunity for greatness in stubborn games. Feel the pain of “Debbieland”–the pain that we bring to others in order to get rid of our own. Savor the familiar tingling in your hands from the urge to shake these characters, caress them, or push them down a flight of stairs.
Enter the lives of Bender’s characters in “Part Two” who feel older, but are yet still incompetent in their limbo-ridden world of indecision–who show us the weakness of being weak. An investigation of intimacy and emotion,“Motherfucker” leaves you wandering your own house of desire and all the memories of times you left it too widely open, thus missing out on something true. Captivated by the magic of a few moments of change, the characters in both “Fruits and Words” and “I Will Pick Out Your Ribs (from My Teeth)” suffer in all-too-familiar suspended weightless fields of danger and uncertainty, and make you wish they would break like poorly made plates, not out of malice, but as a way to redemption.
As in the Kübler-Ross model of the five stages of grief, the last section of Willful Creatures takes us through acceptance. Hold your breath while reading “Job’s Jobs” in which our hero has everything taken from him but still oozes that soul-crushing ability to love what he can do. Here, Bender finally lets you shout “TAKE THAT!” at God and shove his face in the human ability to continue striving for happiness in spite of any obstacles. In “The Case of the Salt and Pepper Shakers” Bender examines the equality that can be found in discord, and in “The Leading Man” she explores the process of self-discovery with the acceptance of every subsequent reveal. The characters in Part Three feel ancient, wise and self-assured compared to the volatile creatures in the first two sections. “Hymn,” a story of acceptance of perfection in a seemingly chaotic town where everyone can find a true purpose, finishes the book off like a perfectly sculpted tower of whipped cream. It is as unifying as a comfortable close hug between warring sisters.
To read Willful Creatures is to submerge oneself into the thick fiction of Aimee Bender’s creation, to swallow every story whole, to feel her characters tap at you from the inside as you digest them, and to glow in their aftereffects. It is an experience made for lovers and dedicated students of the human condition, and a revelation into what it means to be able to act with intent. Read it, feel yourself judged not worthy of the will you have, and then go out and be as unreasonably stubborn as you can possibly be.
By Jessica Marie Felleman
an Editorial Assistant for Black Clock and an MFA Writing candidate at CalArts
One Response
Jessica: Based on your review I will read Willfull Creatures ASAP. I might add that when you answered those three tricky questions so rapidly the other day I was caught off guard by how I underestimated your intelligence.
At the age of 13 I was in a group of Sci Fi people trying to write SF. They included the highly recognized Harlan Ellison and less know David Ish- both made it into press- not me though.
Best wishes for a happy career, W Knapp