Born Bad: Collected Stories (1994) - Plot & Excerpts
I am reading short stories for a while because I am having trouble keeping the details of long stories in my mind. Short attention span maybe. Closed head injury maybe. I have recently finished reading the Burke series by Vachss and had some problem with the level of complexity as the series concluded. So I didn’t enjoy the books at the end of the series as much as I enjoyed the books at the beginning. This book of short stories is nearly twenty years old – from 1994. I am pretty used to reading older books. I just finished a book of short stories that was first published in 1935. So this one is pretty new!I am feeling like a book vigilante right now. My message: you don’t need to read this book! Several years ago I picked up Vachss books because I thought his war against “freaks” – child abusers – was a just war that needed fighting. In spite of having put in some time as a frontline child abuse and neglect worker, I thought that there was something he could tell me about a solution to the problem. But as I begin to read Born Bad, I find mostly retaliation, retribution, revenge. I am struggling to figure out what I think we should do about evil in the world. I believe that, yes, there is evil. But I just can’t accept that some people are born bad and need to be eliminated. I think things happen to create evil people, that every infant has a potential for good but that sometimes that potential gets derailed. Call me a bleeding heart liberal if you want. I think bad things happen to good people, sometimes when they are very tiny. I have a hard time buying into evil genes!Reviewing a book is passing judgment. I gave The Devil All the Time two stars because I thought the violence went too far. I gave Just Babies five stars because I thought it was uplifting and shined a positive light on human potential. I do not favor banning books but I am trying to learn to suggest you read this one and not that one. We all have limited reading time and have to make choices. Goodreads is one resource that can help make those hard choices. But you do not see too many single star reviews for some reason.I hate to start reading a book and then stop. But somehow I have to practice putting books down that do not help me grow. I am consciously putting this book down to make space in my life to read a book that is better for me. And I am giving this book one star as a warning to others. My input for what it is worth.
In an interview made sometime in the 90s, Andrew Vachss stated that he has ONE message, one tune, and regardless of whatever instrument one puts in his hands, that's the tune he'll play. The tune in question involves child abuse and the protection of children (especially as there is a cycle where the abused can easily become the abuser in time, monsters breeding monsters in a sense).Fully in line with his own view of his role as a writer, Vachss writes the following in the introduction to Born Bad: "Writing isn't my work, it's an organic extension of that work. I may not be a good writer, but I write for a good reason." It should be added that the statement is overly modest. Vachss is a good writer. Given that the material in this collection is of varying quality, as is mostly the case with short story collections, especially ones of this type where play fragments and other writings have been included, but "the good reason" (driving Vachss' writing) is far from the only thing that makes this worthwhile to read.Vachss depicts a raw and often fairly brutal world, seen both from the victims and the perpetrators (if not at the same time). In a lot of ways, Vachss moralises a lot, but it is moralising in a fashion that is thoughtful, that actually raises the right kind of questions – concerning whose rights counts, etc.A slightly surprising element in the collection, though much appreciated, are the four included Underground short stories. Here Vachss creates a postapokalyptic world in a convincing manner and uses it as a background to his usual tune. Well worth reading!
What do You think about Born Bad: Collected Stories (1994)?
This was one of my best finds - in my library used book section. Vachss' first book of collections. His ever present stories on abused kids is very prevalent. The dark, dirty side of sections in New York, makes the reader not to want to be out at night in the big city. He had a few stories about a one named character named Cross - who turned out to be his anti-hero Burke, in a favorite series of mine. If I would have read this back when it came out - I would have already begun to like Vachss....before Burke!
—Lee
A collection of short stories from the man who writes one of my favorite series, the Burke series of "urban noir." I'm not a big fan of short stories, which is why this book, along with a later collection, has sat on my shelf for many years. But I decided to give it a try. Wow, Vachss is good! Many are very short--only 3-4 pages. Vachss' trademark themes--his hostility toward child abuse and all kinds of sexual abuse, and his love for dogs (and use of them to wreak justice)--are on prominent display in these stories. If they're not, the story probably involves a criminal or someone living on the edge of the criminal world. Excellent stuff.
—Steve Dennie
From a writer whose novels have been acclaimed for their unflinching exploration of evil comes a brilliant collection of short stories—some never before published—that distill dread back down to its essence—and inject it straight into the reader's back brain. Andrew Vachss might have scissored his characters from today's headlines: a stalker prowling around an anonymous high-rise; a serial killer whose transgressions reflect a childhood of hideous abuse; an inner-city gunman who is willing to take out a blockful of victims in order to win a moment of acceptance. Tautly written and endowed with murderous ironic spin, Born Bad plunges us into the hell that lies just outside our bedroom windows. A collection of dark tales from author Andrew Vachss
—Al
