THE WORLD'S THINNEST FAT MAN

by Joe Taylor

Pub Date: Jan. 27th, 2024
ISBN: 9781604893830

Taylor’s collection of short stories revolves around a Kentucky-born man’s life of misadventures and failed romances.

Josey stops by a New Orleans voodoo shop in “The Woman Who Wouldn’t Talk, the Man Who Wouldn’t Listen.” He’s there specifically to see Madame LaBonne, hoping she can do something about his peculiar circumstances—his love, Sally, has run off with another woman. This is just one of 18 stories featuring Josey throughout his life, set in such places as West Palm Beach and his hometown of Lexington, Kentucky. Life has its ups and downs—mostly comical downs—in this collection. Josey winds up on a blind date in the story “Faithful Companion,” in which a woman named Sarah takes him to the dentist’s office next to her apartment. She promises him a surprise, but the dentist’s unforeseen arrival may upend whatever she has planned. Josey gradually develops into the “world’s thinnest fat man”; for the socially inept Josey, the appellation represents the “hot air” he tends to spew. Sometimes he’s a spectator in tales that focus on other characters, from a co-worker who tries to kick alcohol by switching to heroin to the University of Kentucky campus barber who vows to take revenge on whoever kicked a dent into his Cadillac convertible. “Meanwhile on Limestone Street: Time, Mass, and Energy Masquerade as Free Will” best exemplifies this collection’s theme and central character, with its titular street in Lexington sparking memories of ex-lovers and familiar spots, including the U.K. bookstore where Josey was a trade book buyer for five years.

Taylor dishes out much quirkiness and many laughs in this book. One story finds Josey determined to identify the “Phantom Tipper” who leaves waiters $500 bills, while in another story, on a friend’s advice, he makes a date with a woman in Florida nearly a month in advance. Not all the humor lands, however. Josey seems to revel in being “politically incorrect,” which entails intermittent uses of racial and homophobic slurs in what are meant to be humorous ways. Standouts among the stories’ supporting casts include Madame LaBonne and some would-be thieves in her shop; Darlene, an ex whose mere memory evidently flusters Josey; and an unexpectedly easygoing stranger at a Florida bar. The stories also delve into serious subject matter; “Alpha and Omega” shines a bright light on Catholicism, followed by “The Evening Star Is Not a Star,” in which Josey’s pal Jeff proposes a risky dive off a pier at high tide. Taylor’s writing is consistently clever, and he occasionally plays with narrative perspectives and timelines. Josey doesn’t always narrate the stories. In “Meanwhile,” an omniscient narrator relays bits and pieces of Josey’s life and, at one point, apparently coaxes him into action: “Hold up, Josey. Could you trot back a few steps? Pretty please?” Similarly, “Judas” opens with his first-person perspective, which almost instantly shifts to Josey imagining the point of view of young Leslie, a girl he once spent a Saturday with tracking down a local peacock.

A strange, witty, and not always likable protagonist headlines this assemblage of diverting tales.