Visibility

Throughout the entirety of the collection, the author explores the complex experience of seeing and being seen. In each of his 10 short stories, Brinkley re-contextualizes notions of visibility within the contexts of a diverse cast of characters’ lives and worlds. He does so as a way to consider the importance of being noticed by others and the dangers of choosing not to see others. In “Blessed Deliverance,” for example, the narrator and his four friends are familiar with Headass, but treat him as a “punch line,” and thus the brunt of their jokes (3). Headass’s presence is so familiar in their lives that they eventually grow “bored with him, he was dull, the five of us paid him no mind” (3). The friends initially suffer no repercussions for ignoring Headass. They are living according to the standard that “no matter how horrible the sound, it’s best...