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Canadian Authors - General fiction - |
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The Immaculate Conception Photography Gallery: Stories |
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 The Immaculate Conception Photography Gallery: Stories By Katherine GovierReprinted by Random House Canada (Vintage Books) 261 pages, 2000 ISBN 0679310347 [first published in 1994] Reviewed by Zaheera Jiwaji Read our profile of Katherine Govier and reviews of her other works Katherine Govier's rule for writing short stories must be to have readers smiling within three or four paragraphs. This is not to say that her stories are riotously funny; rather, they amuse in a half-painful, half-pleasurable way. Govier's characters bare their human failings and foibles, leaving readers smiling at their own imperfection. The title story of this collection of short stories, The Immaculate Conception Photography Gallery, was a prizewinner in the 1989 CBC Literary Contest (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation). Sandro, a photographer who runs the Immaculate Conception Photography Gallery, becomes involved, against his better instincts, in a pattern of erasing people. It is not as grim as it sounds yet equally disturbing. It all begins when a distraught mother-of-the-bride turns up with the photographs taken at her daughter's wedding. She demands that Sandro either re-take the entire wedding photographs or remove the smiling face of a bridesmaid who seduced the groom. Sandro has no choice but to doctor the negatives and remove all evidence of the offending bridesmaid's presence. But it doesn't stop there. He develops a reputation for this skill, and over the years, he will erase philandering husbands, wayward sons and undeserving in-laws. Although amusing, this story ends on a bewildering and poignant note. This is the case in many of the fifteen stories presented here. They begin harmlessly, lulling the reader into a pleasant state, but quickly wind to a surprising ending. It is this paradox of the human existence that Govier captures clearly. We meet the characters in her stories, learn about their cozy lives. Suddenly the veneer is gone, and Govier plunges us into their damaged hearts. In The Damaged Heart, Mo, a rather staid and middle-aged man is in need of a heart transplant. He receives the heart of Melissa, a sixteen-year-old who died in an accident. Soon after the transplant, Mo begins to experience youthful urges, such as rampant sexuality, giggling fits, and preferences for music and food which teenagers enjoy. His friends and colleagues comment on his boundless energy, youthful complexion, and joie de vivre. He attributes it to organ memory, until one day the heart begins to speak to him. What his heart says and where it leads him make up the unexpected ending to this riveting story. In The Immaculate Conception Photography Gallery, Govier's writing asks us to listen to our own damaged hearts. In her characters we discover ourselves, and wonder what hidden truths lie beneath our public performances, and what our life purpose is. As Sandro the photographer asks, "Are we here just to have our photograph taken?" |
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