Set in north-end Winnipeg in the early '60s, the 15 interrelated stories evoke a time and place with special significance for the author. Oberman re-visits his own childhood in these well-crafted tales with their cast of lovingly drawn characters.
Appealing to the imaginations of children is nothing new for Oberman. He has published four books for children, created lyrics for singer Fred Penner and contributed stories and poems to children's anthologies. It's not surprising, then, that Danny's character is portrayed with sensitivity and depth.
Danny's father Murray, a weight lifter turned ineffectual salesman in his own clothing store, and his mother Deborah, a distant and disillusioned beauty whose business savvy takes over where her husband's fails, offer little to satisfy their son's thirst for knowledge.
Rita, the fast-talking flirt who waitresses at the Popularity Grill, gives Danny his first taste of unrequited love. She conceals her bitterness from him and everyone else under a saucy, chameleon-like exterior.
Only Mr. Werner, the aging caretaker who lives in the basement under the Steins' store, makes any attempt to relate to the boy.
Danny's desire for understanding amuses and touches the old man; "Ah, Danny, you and your mind! Your mind is so hungry, it's got to have ail the answers on one big plate so it can eat them all together and all at once."
The stories that focus on the relationship between these two characters are by far the most compelling in the book. In the title story, Mr. Werner brings meaning and reverence to the Stein family's Passover celebration. Even Baba, a powerful giant in Danny's eyes, (despite her skin that is "loose, bleached as a boiled chicken's, soft as gefilte fish") loses her potency when Mr. Werner weaves his spell.
The Early Days of Shadowman, recalling Danny's first encounter with Werner, celebrates the art of storytelling. As Danny elicits the old man's history, the boy's desire to create his own stories takes root.
In The Lady of the Beanpoles, a high school music teacher cultivates a vegetable garden in an attempt to fill the hole left by his estranged wife. There's the sad German couple of The Projectionist's Wîfe, who live vicariously through the films they screen at their movie house and the postcards they receive from their wandering son. In Pop, the short-order cook at the Popularity Grill shares a bed with his waitress while his suicidal wife languishes at home. While the lives of these characters brim with pathos, their voices aren't quite as convincing as those of the Steins, Mr. Werner and Rita.
Oberman 's fascination with the power of words comes through clearly in these stories, but, at times, his use of metaphor feels somewhat labored. In The Projectionist's Wife, for example, the film imagery threatens to overtake the story.
Overall, though, the language in these stories is manipulated with skill. Oberman's prose paints strong, gritty images of the urban landscape and demonstrates a sensitivity to the vagaries of human emotion.
This Business With Elijah leaves the reader in a pleasant state of anticipation for Oberman's next adult offering.