The Ice Cream Man and Other Stories
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4.7 • 3 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
“Pink is a keen observer of the culture of minimum-wage jobs and low-rent studio apartments that is the reality of life for all those who don't find a cog space in today’s hyper-capitalist economy.” —The Guardian
Cone dealer, sunshine stealer, alleyway counselor, lunch lady to the homeless, friend to the dead, maker of sandwiches. Metal wrangler. Stag among stags. And so it goes—another journey through time spent punched in. A life's work of working for a living. Blood, death, and violence. Dirty dishes, dead roaches, and sparkler-lit nights. Nights ahead and no real fate. So open your mouths because the forecast calls for sprinkles. Thirteen delights, scooped and served. Let it melt down your hand. Let the sun burn your face. It's the ice cream man, and other stories.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Pink's light touch turns the ordinary into the surreal in his humorously understated collection (after The Garbage Times/White Ibis). In stories mainly set at workplaces governed by mundane minutiae, Pink highlights the absurdity in everyday events. Each sentence, whether a single word or a lengthy paragraph, is offset with white space before and after. The effect is to isolate and elevate individual moments, like panels in a graphic novel. (Pink is also a painter.) The abrasive title character in "The Dishwasher" operates in a perpetual state of hilarious rage ("It's his job to stare off, frowning, thinking about how much he hates you"). In "The Machine Operator," a temp worker performs a gritty, noisy, backbreaking, and ultimately satisfying job. In the amiably shaggy title story, the unwitting narrator answers an ad to drive an ice cream truck, leading to tangles with a gruff mayor, an exalted status among children, and an eye-opening experience of low-wage exploitation. The final story, "Robby," underscores a theme of uncertainty running through all the stories. Two former friends meet on the street in a would-be forgettable encounter ("Seemed like a day that wouldn't ever really get going"), but for the resonance of the men's uncertainty about each other, captured by Pink's splintered form. Pink's incisive, empathetic collection will resonate with readers who share an appreciation for the absurd.
