How the Water Feels: StoriesPaul Eggers’s stories examine the moral arena created by the existence of refugees. Some are stories about literal refugees, those displaced in the aftermath of the Vietnam War, and about those who would help them. Others are about refugees in a metaphoric sense--people alternately bullied and bullying, exiled from sources of power, caught in moments when the familiar gives way. In "The Year Five,” Nguyen Van Trinh, one of the boat people who left Vietnam after the war, is living in a squalid refugee camp on Bidong Island. He is as powerless to repress his sorrow over his daughter’s death as the Malaysian administrative chief of the island is to find out who carved Trinh’s name into the wooden plank in the staff eating hut. In "The Public Spectacle,” Bridget and Owen Greef, two misfits, have been growing apart because of his obsession with chess and Bobby Fischer. They both must come to terms with the fact that they are--as a couple and as individuals--permanent outsiders. In "Anything You Want, Please,” Peace Corps trainee Reuben Gill is led into the malevolent presence of long-term "jungle junkie” (and Peace Corps volunteer) Geronimo Donaldson’s companion monkey. In this alien place, Gill finds himself struggling against his own worst impulses, beginning to doubt the strength of his commitment to his stateside fiancée. |
Contents
How the Water Feels | 1 |
Substitutes | 19 |
Anything You Want Please | 33 |
Copyright | |
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Ahmed arms asked beach began Bidong boat Bobbi called camp chair chess Chinese clear clipboard closed couldn't desk didn't door ears engineer eyes face feel feet felt fingers fish floor Force front Gary Geronimo girl give Gurmit hair hand hard head hear heard held holding knew Kuala later letters light lips looked Malay mind Miss morning mouth move never night once opened Owen past picture plank plastic play pocket pointed pulled rain Rassmusson refugee Reuben seemed shirt shook shoulder shouted side smelled smiled sometimes sound started steps stood stop sure T-shirt talk Task tell things thought tiny told took Trengganu Trinh turned Vietnamese Viets voice walked wall watching waved woman women wondered Zone