Low Man
T.J. Vargo
272 pp. Leucrota Press. $12.95
Reviewed by Paul Stotts
“How far would you go to save someone you love?” – “Low Man”
It’s rather unexpected to find a horror novel that’s really about the power of love, but “Low Man” by T.J. Vargo is such a beast, a bowel-clenching horror ride that highlights the transcendence of love. Most horror novels don’t usually leave the reader with hope at the end, but “Low Man”, dare I say, is uplifting. As strange as this may seem in a way this apparent dichotomy between love and horror makes complete sense. I mean what really shows the true depth of someone’s feelings better than having them overcome tremendous obstacles in the name of love? Now what genre often piles on overwhelming obstacles (many of them supernatural in nature) better than horror? Often individuals will say they’d go through hell to save someone they love. “Low Man” concerns itself with the question of whether one man really means this.
Ever since losing his job at Swan Plumbing Supplies, Benny Assissi has been struggling to support his wife Lisa and their infant son Michael. Jobs being difficult to find in the economically-depressed town in which they are living, Benny is lucky to find work as a night cashier at a local convenience store. Meanwhile he’s also taking classes at a community college during the day in order to improve his future prospects. The family’s dire financial straits coupled with Benny’s intense work and school schedule is taking its toil on his marriage with Lisa, who’s on the verge of leaving him. To aggravate these matters even more, Michael is sick and his condition seems to be deteriorating quickly.
While on duty one night at the Fast Stop convenience store, Benny is robbed at gunpoint. Oddly during the course of the robbery, he gets a call from Lisa. (The robber is kind enough to let Benny answer the phone.) Lisa tells Benny that she’s had to rush Michael to the emergency room, and she needs him to come to the hospital immediately with his pay stub so that Michael can be treated, since they’d lost their medical insurance. Still recoiling from the news, Benny tries to resolve the conflict with his assailant as quickly as possible by handing over the contents of the store’s safe. After the robber has fled though, Benny stumbles upon a gun hidden underneath the front counter. Suddenly, Benny is extremely worried that the Fast Stop’s owner Berardi will fire him for giving up the money easily to the thief. And if he loses his job, Benny fears he will also lose Lisa and Michael. So instead of rushing to the emergency room to help Lisa with Michael, Benny decides to grab the concealed weapon and take matters in his own hands by getting the store’s money back.
Before too long Benny catches up with the robber, sparking a deadly confrontation that will not only reveal the insidious circumstances behind the robbery of the Fast Stop, but also start Benny on a harrowing and dangerous journey to save his family. Benny will soon find out how far he is willing to go for love.
“Low Man” is quite mythological in nature. This arises from the second half of the novel which borrows from the famous Greek myth of Orpheus. In the myth, Orpheus journeys into the underworld to save his beloved Eurydice and eventually wins her release. However Orpheus wins Eurydice back only on one condition: on his journey out of the underworld, he must constantly walk in front of her and never turn around to look at Eurydice. Near the end of the return journey and harboring doubts, Orpheus unfortunately decides to turn around to catch of glimpse to make certain Eurydice is behind him. When he turns around he helplessly watches as Eurydice vanishes, now lost to the underworld forever.
Orpheus’s descent into the underworld is essentially a journey for love. And Benny undertakes a similar journey in “Low Man” (there are some dissimilarities with the myth which I will let the reader discover). Vargo’s use of the mythological storyline of descending into the underworld to save a loved one (Orpheus is just one version of different cultural myths that revolve around journeys into the underworld) empowers the novel, strengthening the idea of love as a conquering force. Another interesting choice that strengthens the theme is made by Vargo early in the novel. By having Benny and Lisa’s marriage falling apart, Vargo places Benny in a place where it would likely be easier to give up on love than to continue. In the beginning of the book, Benny is convinced that Lisa is going to leave him, but even with this belief he steadfastly fights to save his family. In the end, Benny’s love is transformative, greatly affecting one character, Sam Freeman, who in witnessing its tremendous power is eventually moved to make his own sacrifice.
The narrative is well thought out, but tends to move a bit too slowly mainly because the story is overly descriptive in parts. The portions of the novel concerning Lisa’s confrontations with the emergency room receptionist and her subsequent waiting for medical attention are too long and could have been greatly shortened without any negative effect. These chapters seem more an opportunity for Vargo to comment on the unfairness of the medical system than to move the story forward. Eliminating them would help in tightening up the rest of the plot. But this is a minor criticism since “Low Man” is less plot-driven than character-driven. Ultimately Vargo’s novel is more focused on the characters and how they react to their situations than in providing a fast-paced rollercoaster ride. This approach is quite successful mainly because of how interesting all the characters are in “Low Man”. Great depth shines through in all the characters (even the minor ones), giving them a wonderful and rich fullness that strengthens the story. The novel wouldn’t work if the reader didn’t empathize with Benny and Lisa. This issue doesn’t arise though as Vargo does a commendable job in getting the reader to have a real emotional connection with these people. Lisa and Benny are real everyday people, struggling to survive by doing what has to be done even though it may not be easy or glamorous. They’re “heroes” in the real sense of the word, and it’s refreshing and poignant. What Benny and Lisa do have is love for each other, and no matter how low in life they fall that is the one thing that they refuse to have taken away from them.
Last Word:
“Low Man” is an artfully executed love letter, mythological and well-written; it’s a character-driven tour-de-force filled with rich and touching characterizations. Though somewhat slow-paced and overly descriptive in parts, “Low Man” is an enjoyable and, strangely enough, uplifting read. In the end, Vargo ultimately delivers the goods in this creepy tale about the transcendent power of love.
Final Grade: 73 out of 100
1 comments:
I finished this one too, but with not the same opinion. It seems that I treated it more from its genre point of view. Like you said it might not work if your not sympathetic with the characters and I was not. I have my full review tomorrow.
Nice review by the way :)
Post a Comment