6 • The Southwest Portland Post
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December 2011
Chamberlain cleverly melds scientific reasoning into metaphor
BOOK REVIEW
By Stephanie Lodromeanan
The Southwest Portland Post
On October 13 Glen Chamberlain
came by Annie Bloom’s Books in
Multnomah Village for a reading.
She was there in support of her new
book of short stories called “ Conju-
gations of the Verb To Be .”
You might have missed the read-
ing, but the book is something that
shouldn’t be overlooked. In her ca-
reer as an author, Chamberlain has
been awarded a Pushcart Prize, Gil-
crease Prize and Rona Jaffe award
for her fiction.
Currently Chamberlain is a writ-
ing professor at Montana State Uni-
versity. Although her name might
not be as recognizable as some of
the bestselling authors, there is
something special about the way
she tells a story and she is worth
looking into.
“Conjugations” is a collection of
short stories which cleverly melds
scientific reasoning into metaphor;
displays a variety of narrators which
choose to stray from traditional; and
chooses to focus on tiny aspects of
the story unfold from some
place above it all.
there are plenty of others.
insecure wife, stricken with
the plight of losing her love
one snowy night, is the focus.
“Out on the ranch, she felt
no separation between herself
and the world; she moved
through it unmembraned,
unaware of borders. Only in
town did she feel the shape she
had made of herself and, by
consequence, her limitations.”
As the story progresses you
stop fighting against her ap-
parent frailty and start to un-
derstand what made her that
way and what it’s like to go
through such heartbreaking
events as she does.
With each word she uses to
progress the story, you find
yourself falling into place and Conjugations of the Verb To Be, by Glen
rooting for these underdog fig- Chamberlain, 193 pages, softcover: $11.95.
ures to figure out the situation Delphinium Press, September 2011
so you can have a revelatory
moment with them.
reflections on life, in all its forms
If you are looking to read some-
and stages, than I suggest turning to
“Conjugations of the Verb To Be.”
thing with wisdom and thoughtful
life which when actually analyzed
can display just how meaningful
seemingly immaterial things are,
like how to properly pronounce a
person’s name.
One of the superior strengths that
Chamberlain exhibits in her writing
is a beautiful way of telling a story,
taking the reader through elegant
prose and slowly sneaking in the
wisdom of revelation.
Reading any one of the eleven
stories straps you into the life of a
young girl, a wandering twenty-
something, or a jaded professor, and
You find yourself quickly navigat-
ing through the thought systems of
a life that isn’t your own, but Cham-
berlain draws you in so perfectly
that you start to understand and
deconstruct their lives.
With each start to Chamberlain’s
stories there is this idea that you
know what is happening, that of
course you can tell the situation
before even the character can put them
together, and with each story there is
this air of superiority over watching
One such story is “The Track of
Animals,” in which a weepy and
PoSt a to Z BuSINESS CaRd dIRECtoRy 503-244-6933
Happy Holidays
from all of us at
The Post!