Collegiate Times

The most profound, life-changing moments of suburban life often pass quietly and quickly, leaving behind a lasting emotional response. Monumental changes in lifestyles and relationships often grow from the most miniscule events.

Andrew Porter illuminates these moments in his superbly written collection of short stories, “The Theory of Light and Matter.”

Vintage Books is reprinting “The Theory of Light and Matter,” which was met with considerable acclaim, including winning the 2007 Flannery O’Connor Award for short fiction. The book will hit shelves during winter break on Jan. 5, 2010.

“The Theory of Light and Matter” is a varied selection of emotionally-charged stories with the common theme of the perceptions and trials of average suburban American. The stories leap across the country, each dealing with a unique protagonist trying to understand the importance of the particular situation he is narrating.

In the book’s title story, and one of its strongest pieces, readers are invited to examine a college student’s emotional affair with her professor. The short story is a page-turner as vivid characterization, clearly defined setting and high emotional stakes drive readers to discover how things will end.

Porter is a gifted storyteller, and he manages to imbue the narrators of each story with a different personality and voice. In “Azul,” the hero is a Houston advertising worker who finds out he may be much more uptight than he thought. The narrator of “Hole” looks back on his childhood in Virginia and the accidental death he might have caused.

In a collection as thematically unified as this, these characters could have easily blended together, but each one shares with the reader a different perspective or quirk that distinguishes their story.

“The Theory of Light and Matter” carries a significant amount of emotional weight in its exploration of life-changing moments, but Porter manages to keep the readers going with a clear, concise and almost poetic style.

Porter uses his words and sentences to construct what reads like an easy conversation with the protagonists. The occasional descriptive flourish heightens each setting, but Porter also draws a vivid picture of suburban sprawl with his simple language.

“Connecticut” is a bleak tale of a father’s mental illness and his wife’s hidden indiscretions, but it reads clearly enough to almost seem like a bedtime story.

This universally accessible quality elevates “The Theory of Light and Matter” to a higher level. What could have been a collection of hugely depressing and off-putting stories about flawed characters becomes an open, honest and unpretentious look at difficult memories.

Porter writes his stories as snapshots of complicated lives and leaves readers to draw their own conclusions about the meaning or point of each story.

It is only when readers consider “The Theory of Light and Matter” as a whole that the point becomes clear. Porter is making the case that the challenges and choices that confront a person on a given day will have a lasting effect, no matter how bland they may be.

“The Theory of Light and Matter” is worth reading purely to enjoy Porter’s skill with words, but it will stick with readers because of its honest look at the difficult parts of modern life.