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In the Driver’s Seat By Melissa J Wantuck  |
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 In the Driver’s Seat by Helen Simpson is a collection of short stories, Simpson’s third collection. They’re dark and provocative but an easy afternoon read.
A fun twist on Simpson’s work is she’s a British writer so her stories are chock full of British slang. Most of her settings are around London and she references many geographical locations with names of sections, streets and the London Underground train stops. Readers will either be amused by this or become frustrated and think Simpson’s grammar is horrible. Don’t let this hold you back from immersing yourself in some bawdy British humor.
At the same time, Simpson’s stories are a tad depressing. No one is happy and in each story, they face a circumstance in their life that has a negative outcome.
There’s the new mother whose body has been morphed into a shapeless blob and her husband tells her flat out he’ll be interested in her again once she gets back into shape. How about that for encouragement!
Then there’s the man who faces a dark road of cancer treatment. Looking death in the eye straightens him up. Previously aloof and adulterous, he loves his wife again and takes an interest in his child. When his prognosis is changed, he goes right back to his old ways. Does this mean there’s no hope for someone to change?
A politically motivated story discusses the War in Iraq and the main character, a pacifist, charts her love life along with the past four wars. She has had a different boyfriend during each one and she notes how each boyfriend has responded to her anti-war feelings. Her desire to move to a man-free community to prevent future wars almost leads one to believe Simpson is toying with the danger of misanthropy. The misanthrope wallows in continued anger and self-pity. Again, does this mean there’s no hope for change? Or our viewpoints can ruin our lives?
A couple stories start out strong. The plot is entertaining and you can laugh along with the main character as many of us have faced similar situations. Then suddenly Simpson wraps up the story in such an abrupt and rough way, the reader feels cheated. Her wrap up is short and snappy. The first story throws the curveball in the fourth paragraph from the end. The second knocks you off guard in the final paragraph. Just when Simpson brings you to the point, she takes your feet out from under you without pausing to apologize. Perhaps she thinks this is part of her charm.
The first few stories in the collection start out as Simpson’s expose on language. She toys with word meanings, stretching their limits with word play, though sometimes going a little too far. It’s fun to consider her word choices and find some new and interesting ones, while others are over the top and it starts to grow old, this game. Then she seems to give up the game and the latter half of her collection reverts to more traditional language. After blasting from the gate with force, her pulling up is a little disappointing.
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