Book Review: "The Architect of Flowers" by William Lychack

Title: The Architect of Flowers

Author: William Lychack

Publisher: Mariner Books, a division of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing

ISBN, PUB Date: 978-0-618-30243-7, March 23, 2011

Reviewe by: Lee Libro for Author Exposure

Author Exposure provided me with a complimentary copy of William Lychacks short story collection, The Architect of Flowers. Such a title drew up mystical visions: expectations that the book might treat the reader to not just stories, but perhaps a brush with the Creator Himself. While this might seem like a high expectation, the writer in a way, is the God of their own universe, and in the case of William Lychack’s writing, there can be no question that he is a powerful one.

The Architect of Flowers consists of thirteen stories, most of which have appeared elsewhere including the Harvard Review and National Public Radio. Brought together as a collection, the reader begins to link them as a whole, so the book is indeed like a field of flowers, each with a unique grace and beauty.

Just as some flowers have a dark thorny side, so do some of Lychack’s stories. For example, “Stoplestad”, the story of a police officer called upon to put a family dog out of his misery. The routine of this small town police officer doesn't normally demand crossing such a line, but his story, told by him in the present and in near staccato notes, communicates the sharp edge that separates his civic duty from his personal experience.

Nearly every sentence tells the actions as they occurred, rather quickly, as if the speaker must be numb from the experience, but must relate the event to you, almost as a confessional. This portrayal of Officer Stopelstad’s experience manages to reveal his underpinnings, makes us see him as a vulnerable man, imperfect, in fact so much so that as it turns out, he failed to perform the duty thoroughly. You see, it seems he shot the dog, but it didn’t die; it only lay there suffering more and yet officer Stoplestad doesn’t learn of this error until later that night when he’s visited by the dog’s very angry master.

Just like the everyday life of Officer Stoplestad, the rest of the stories most often address everyday life. The artistry of Lychack’s writing is his ability to shed light on the extraordinary elements that lie behind it. As we read these stories, in the universe of Lychack’s creation, relationships and people, no matter how mundane or tortured, are inevitably imparted a certain grace.  The urge to carry this grace or see it restored to the world is a common theme. How Lychack accomplishes this is much the same way that indeed a God would, by revealing the intricacies of flowers, the individual shape of a species, the flower’s petal, the soft underside of its thorny stem, all so one might appreciate its nature.  In keeping with the gist of the title it’s this aspect that makes Lychack’s collection of short stories truly a beautiful “garden.”

If you like literary fiction or stories with poetic leanings, The Architect of Flowers will provide you with great reading. Lychack’s writing style telegraphs meaning in dialogue and narrative that is often clipped and direct, but it never fails to deliver a full punch. I highly recommend it!