(The short story “Hobbies” by Robbie Herbst appeared in X-R-A-Y on August 30th.)
(SPOILERS, people! SPOILERS!)
Art by Bri Chapman
There sure are a great number of short stories and novels that cover the subject matter of the male midlife crisis. Or, as a friend calls them, “Sorry your penis stopped working, stories.” In one way or another, midlife crisis stories are about virility; the lack of it, the fear of losing it, of losing it, or desperately keeping it. And it is an attractive cliché to work with, as it is soaked in drama due to impending change, and can lend itself to comedy or drama, or a little of both.
“Hobbies” by Robbie Herbst is just a short story that could have taken a turn down the midlife crisis trope. In fact, I kept expecting that it would, but it didn’t, and that was a completely refreshing development. In fact, the whole story is told in this realist yet absurdist style; claiming to be neither, but clearly dabbling a toe in both. In this way, the story stays lite, but also rooted in an honesty.
The protagonist is a man sliding into a transition. The story opens with a mysterious letter from a woman named Therese that the he does not know, and rather than share the letter with his wife, he burns it, thus keeping it a secret. As we learn more about him, we see that he is a good person, with two good kids, happily married, with a good job, living a good life. But that night he wakes up having no idea who he is, but slowly, the details of his being return to him. This moment starts his journey to see if he is missing something. This is the fear of losing virility. Or maybe relevance. Either way, the hero is in a place of security and yet feels incomplete.
And what follows is the breaking of the midlife crisis cliché. Here, the marriage is still fine, the kids are okay, and the job is fine. Yet, there is a threat that looms over him and the family – something that has to be prepared for. It’s not identified, nor does it need to be, as it is a fear that takes the form of whatever it needs to be for each person. But our hero keeps making choices, figuring out what he needs to do to confront whatever is coming.
This was a smart story, and also very funny. Herbst is very good at keeping the story moving, throwing in details, and never letting the narrative get bogged down. But most of all, “Hobbies” took what I thought would be cliched, and gave it a twist and an insight that I wasn’t expecting.
Matthew Groff 