Replays
by Gary Hawthorn
Genre: Short Story Collection / New Jersey
ISBN: 9798350962192
Print Length: 272 pages
Reviewed by Warren Maxwell
A charming, good-natured story collection about the friendships and adventures that make life worth living
“I like chance encounters. They can take me somewhere worth going.”
Whether catching a plane with a Hell’s Angel or sitting at the bar with a best friend, Replays is replete with the kind of down-to-earth banter and tall tales you’d be lucky to overhear from a few seats over.
As Gary Hawthorn (Hawth to his friends) explains in the book’s introduction, many of these stories are born from true events. They recount rough summer jobs, heroics in a high school gym class, battles over suburban lawns, and the experiences of traveling across country to see friends and then coming home again. There’s a lived-in quality to each of these twenty-seven stories that makes them both easy to read and hard to forget.
“Say no more, amigo. I’d rather get a simultaneous prostate exam and root canal than be forced to watch never-ending pictures of another person’s family vacation.”
There’s gruff, unapologetic Jersey humor sprinkled throughout the book that leads, in some cases, to full on belly laughs. One story, “Swimming with Pigs” mocks a wealthy neighbor who brags about how much money he spent on a vacation to the Caribbean Pig Island where he and his family swam with the pigs.
Hawth and his best friend DP Ski ruthlessly cut into “Mr. Materialist,” go on a tangent about the sudden emergence of Goat Yoga somewhere in Arizona, and circle back to a story about West Cape May’s pig farm. The freewheeling conversations flit from subject to subject with zest and joy at the simple fact of talking and laughing with a friend. The energy of these kindred spirits and playful dialogues is infectious and brought a smile to my face.
“As I approach the terminal exit, I see my reflection grow larger in an overhead mirror over the doors going out. But I’ve never felt smaller. In the worst way, I want that someone to be a stranger. I stare at myself and ask out loud, ‘And who the hell do you think you are?’”
While the writing can have a slightly clumsy texture with awkward transitions and phrases that don’t capture the vernacular of ordinary speech, there’s something deeply charming about how rooted the stories are in place and time. In a way, the very stylistic clumsiness speaks to a certain “fuggedaboutit” Jersey attitude. That word itself, along with old phrases like “Riding high in April, shot down in May,” and other “Jersey bona fi-deees” pop up throughout the book and make for endearing reminders of what life looks and sounds like on the Atlantic coast. Jersey lovers will be pleased to find references to Trenton, Asbury Park, Atlantic City, Wildwood, Cape May, and so many other if-you-know-then-you-know places.
“Jim, can I ask you something?”
“Shoot—but don’t ask if what I just told you actually happened.”
“Not going there. Never knew you to make up anything. No need to, given the wild-ass life you’ve led.”
“No comment.”
Among the collection’s many stories, “Breaking Up Is Very Hard to Do” is one of its strongest. Set on a boat off the coast of Florida with Hawth and his older brother Jim, the story unfurls as they first follow birds to the good fishing grounds, save a pelican tied up in fishing line, and then delve into one of Jim’s stranger romantic encounters. Even as the story retains the humor and odd ball hijinks that are characteristic of the collection, it also touches a depth of emotion and familial connection between the two brothers that is genuinely moving. This is apparent in other stories, but here it really comes to fruition, arriving at poetic moments. A slow boat ride, a day of good and bad fishing, some brotherly love, and moments of bracing honesty make this a story that is striking in its simplicity and psychological insight.
A collection of stories that exercise classic New Jersey humor while also plumbing the emotional core that hangs behind them, Replays is a heartwarming, lovable debut.
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