Punishing Ugly Children

Darryl Joel Berger dreams up dark and troubled landscapes populated by deeply disturbed characters. In a matter of mere pages (or even paragraphs), entire twisted lifetimes are lived and worlds stutter to an end.

 

This is not to say that there is no humour in the twenty short stories that make up Punishing Ugly Children. Take for instance the back-and-forth e-mail conversation conducted in a story called “Big Head”. In it, Sean Quintal, an artist who specializes in drawing the cool “freaky Jesus” used in advertising by the Vivian Ted University for Jesus, hoists his boss on his own petard. It’s quirky, engaging fun.

 

Other stories contain a darker humour. In “How to Read Cards”, the protagonist, Chixi-Shin, pines for a co-worker who’s being slowly, oh so slowly, seduced by a rival who is only referred to as “the Incredible Talking Lady.” Chixi-Shin is ultimately released from the pains of unrequited love when the object of her desire and his seductress are “mercifully” incinerated by a firebomb amidst the beginning of a revolution. There’s something about the understated and matter-of-fact pronouncement of the gruesome images in this book that elicits illicit chuckles.

 

The first story, “Broken Head”, is perhaps the funniest. It’s written in the voice of a figuratively and literally damaged author who tells the whole truth in the dedication of his fourth novel. Who knew that head injuries could be so liberating? There is little to laugh at in the collection’s final offering “Polly Jean”, but it is captivating none the less. It is a story within a story whereby a serial killer recounts a mundane event that leads to the death of an already down-trodden young girl.

 

Reading Punishing Ugly Children is a lot like looking at life reflected in a funhouse mirror, with the truth hidden beneath some interesting and alarming distortions. —Kate Watson