cover image The Days: Forecasts, Warnings, Advice

The Days: Forecasts, Warnings, Advice

M.A.C. Farrant. Talonbooks (Consortium, U.S. dist.; PGC/Raincoast, Canadian dist.), $14.95 trade paper (114p) ISBN 978-1-77201-007-7

Farrant's compendium of 93 pieces of microfiction with a poetic feel (following The World Afloat: Miniatures) is a beguiling, quirky delight. The forecasts, warnings, and advice of the subtitle offer sly and raucous humor about seemingly random topics; tongue-in-cheek insights into marriage, parenting, and aging; pleasantly surreal tableaus of subjects such as hearse driving; and a three-page list of items an unnamed woman would not want, including "mom shorts" and "a bitchy resting face." Ever-whimsical and confidently left-field, Farrant also celebrates obscure commemorative days; Dorothy Parker Day is "the one day of the year we can say corrosive things and be free from public censure." Providing serial weirdness in miniature, the pieces bounce with erratic amiability through forecasts, such as "hair will be styled for its hypnotic value"; a history of a kitchen sink; and "Today's Mystery," which imagines in four lines a two-person conversation about Banksy's graffiti artworks. It is fully possible to discern serious intent behind the book's gleeful riffling through cultural ephemera; the odd humor, off-center observations, and clever wordplay anchor the book and impress with their steady devotion to the absurdity of daily life. A tilted or askew vision operates throughout and takes readers to unexpected but rewarding places. (Sept.)