The Far Side of the Moon and Other Stories: quick links
Jana Wendt’s collection of short stories, The Far Side of the Moon and Other Stories offers quietly offbeat pockets of human life.
A standout story is The Stamp of History in which two characters separately reflect on a shared memory of a young man whose life is derailed by the East German Stasi because of his father’s interest in English stamps. It is a musing on the lasting impacts of injury and treachery and how the past continues to distress and disturb.
The Far Side of the Moon and Other Stories: draws on Wendt’s resume as a famous journalist
Another standout is Fame and Nothingness, in which a one-time ‘queen of current affairs’, Lena, is gardening and listening to the radio. Coincidentally, the radio hosts begin talking about her. Lena feels disconnected to her past, as though her professional accomplishments had simply occurred to someone who looked like her and had the same name.
But she nonetheless calls into the show and chats about her career. The piece reads as wryly autobiographical, drawing on Wendt’s own resume as a famous and highly regarded journalist.
The titular story, The Far Side of the Moon (and its companion piece, Lucky Squirts) is also a highlight, offering a portrait of ‘a cantankerous bastard’, Jim, going through his day in distain of everyone. Jim is both insulted at the start of the day by a young woman entering the lift of their building without acknowledging his existence and insulted at the end of the day by a man in the same lift trying to make small talk with him.
Promised to be a genius on the verge of great things, Jim is disappointed in his life as a collectable coin salesman and the world cannot win with him.
The Far Side of the Moon and Other Stories: themes of ageing
One of the throughlines is the theme of ageing and the ability to see your life from the vantage point of experience. While this can be a vantage point of wisdom, it can also be the point of surprise, devotion, resentment, regret, even suicidality. Because of this reflective motif, the collection features characters who reckon more with their interior life than many stark plot points.
This is a solid collection of 12 stories that are assuredly written. The character studies seem an apt choice for Wendt as a journalist and student of human intention. It is unrushed and demanding of the reader’s care and attention. But the payoff is an ultimately moving read, a set of insights into others’ lives after most of the action has played out.
Read: The Visitor review: Rebecca Starford’s novel is Queensland gothic
The Far Side of the Moon and Other Stories by Jana Wendt is published by Text Publishing.
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