“We’re Not So Different, You and I”
by Simon Rich
from the May 13, 2024 issue of The New Yorker
While I know Simon Rich’s name, I do not know his work in any particular way, other than given his work in film and television I’ve likely at least seen a bit of his writing performed. He has published two novels and six collections of short fiction, though, so hopefully some of you can relate to us a bit more about Rich’s work. It appears he is primarily a comic writer, and I admit that is not a field I tend to get a lot of exposure to. I wouldn’t mind changing that, so I’m glad to have this story in this week’s issue. I guess I don’t know yet whether this is a comic story or not, but something about the first few paragraphs suggests it is:
“You’ll never get away with this!” Ultra Man vowed as he wriggled in his chains. “You may destroy me, but you’ll never destroy what I stand for!”
Death Skull let out a hysterical cackle, which echoed piercingly from the stone walls of his lair.
“Why so combative?” he said, emerging from the shadows. “At the end of the day, we’re not so different, you and I.”
I look forward to your thoughts below! I’ll share mine as soon as I’ve read the story.
This story is sort of funny but the humor consists of opposites somehow being brought together, opposite worlds made part of each other. Rich has a very inventive imagination and his evil character somehow weirdly aspires to normalcy.
Aspiring to normalcy is sort of meeting in the middle or least hoping it will resolve loneliness different personality types. That evil villains are lonely indicates they are bored. Not getting any or not enough satisfaction in committing evil is sort of a cartoon thing. In real life villains get lurid satisfactory from committing horrible crimes.
It is a good slice of cartoon mixed with real life ennui. The fun is in evil possibly having a learning moment and might throw off his worst evilness. This story is great example of imaginative world-building. Nice thought, but never occurring with really evil villains. Yet in comics, anything can happen.
Well, this isn’t what I was expecting, and not what I usually look for, but it definitely had my attention for the full 20 minutes or so that it took to read. I thought it was funny, and I continued to be interested in how Rich would continue to spin the story of this super villain hoping to somehow make a friend. I enjoyed the very dry way everything is delivered. While it didn’t have Saunders’ brand of linguistic gamesmanship, the basic premise of putting something strange into our every day world felt very Saunders-esque to me. At the same time, I realize this kind of stuff has been part of skit shows for years and years and years. I enjoy it there as well.
Larry, you express yourself so well above. I particularly like the final paragraph about it being a “good slice of cartoon mixed with real life ennui.”
How did you like the ending? I am glad that Rich didn’t think he needed to do some funny twist or subvert Death Skull’s genuine attempt to find a friend, and that friend’s genuine attempt to forgive and let the friendship happen. I was expecting something to go wrong or for Death Skull to lose faith in his efforts or, worse, for it to be just a super-villainous ploy. I’m glad I was wrong.
I tried to listen to this story, but found the writer’s reading too annoying. Later I read it twice and liked it better the second time. It’s clever–it’s got its merits–but:
Among all the submissions reviewed by the TNY editor, would this have been as story of the month were Simon Rich not a frequent writer of TNY’s column “Shouts and Murmers” ? (I frankly never take note of who writes that. I will from now on.)
Dare I venture to predict that this story will not be chosen for the next issue of Best American Short Stories—maybe not even its “100 other distinguished… ” ?
I’m not saying it’s nor good for what it is, but if this is “what he does”, I don’t think I’d read his collections. “Shouts and Murmers” is enough for me.
*On the other hand*, what if the main character had been an ordinary asshole in a realistic story, with no fantasy, and the comic aspect at least toned way down? Might I have thought it was a great story?
Am I just too darn serious?
(The above was written offline, before I read the previous comments. Nor have I read the author interview, but I will.)
Trevor,
About the ending. I was a little disappointed. In short stories, the ending is the most difficult part. The opening and build up in the middle should deliver a good payoff in the ending right? Which this one didn’t, as Eddie mentioned. It also breaks the rule of mixing genres when two different worlds don’t blend well unless done with extremely clever skill. This especially holds in how the cartoon component is connected to the real world. An example is Superman. The realistic journalist Clark Kent is connected into the superhero world by stepping into a phonebooth and changing clothes into Superman. This is the writer’s device to connect the main character in the real world to the cartoon world and it works. So in this story we have a villian in the cartoon world but we don’t see how he’s connected or located in the real world. We don’t know if he has a side job, a cover, so his nefarious activities will never be investigated. And we don’t have any location, no setting except that he is married and has a few pals that he dipped in toxic waste. On the other hand, it is a good reality story or slice of life where there is no real ending because boredom in all the characters makes the story static. Yet there can be resonance in how real the story seems to the reader based on their life experience. As an example, you may be having a problem with paperwork concerning a legal issue and you aren’t looking for a friend but are trying to get help to solve the problem from a government agency representative. You call. The one who answers identifies themself on the phone, sounds bored and seems to be munching on lunch which they apologize for (probably have to meet a stiff quota for answering calls). You ask them to help. Between bites they tell you exactly what you need to do to solve the issue even though they seem a little bored. Excellent customer service (versus the more usual I can’t help you with that, sorry). Was this person a friend to you? Yes. So that’s more of what I think Simon Rich was actually writing about. That will resonate or not resonate to readers depending on their own life experience. So it was a slice of life ending. Once again, the lack of an effective connection between the cartoon and the real world muddles the story and its ending possibly making it unclear to the reader. Otherwise it’s a pretty good story.
Larry
Larry, I think the fact that the two worlds don’t blend is the source of the humor. In superhero narratives there’s never really ‘normal’ life as the villain is basically in an extended battle and trying to conquer while everyone else would like to return to ‘normal’ life. But…what if the villain is somewhat secure in his lot? Obviously, this isn’t possible but it’s a comment on how these narratives as they’re so plentiful and often done so many times can almost seem endlessly monotonous. It seems like we are always seeing one iteration or another of the Joker “dropping” and creating mayhem so why not make it equally repetitive and tedious for the. superhero and supervillain here?
But..back to my first point. The comedy, and this is a lot like a sketch, is what if someone from a heightened reality is placed within the mundane world.
I enjoyed this.