B8
B Jonathan Yardley
A police officer’s procedural T
THE WAGON
And Other Stories From the City By Martin Preib Univ. of Chicago. 167 pp. $20
he wagon of Martin Preib’s title will be familiar to any city dweller: an enclosed
truck, slightly bigger than a van, with “Police” on its sides and rear. The wagon in Chicago, where Preib has been a cop for several years, is painted white, with a blue stripe and the slogan “Preserve and Protect” on both doors of the cab. It’s often used to transport newly arrested suspects to the police station for questioning or lockup. It’s also used to carry dead bodies to the morgue. The first three essays in Preib’s fine book – the title essay, “Body Bags” and “Studio Apartments” – are about this singularly uncongenial task and the occasional
surprises it yields. Preib was two decades out of college — he
never finished, in large part because he was more interested in reading what he wanted to than what his professors assigned — when he quit his job as a hotel doorman and joined the police force. He wanted to write about Chicago: “I never aspired to haul the dead from their
death places. I only wanted to be a writer, a Chicago writer, but now I am picking up dead bodies on the North Side of Chicago. The irony is a terrible weight. I look back at how I have struggled in this city, working every menial service job the city offers by the thousands: waiter, doorman; the thousands of bags I have carried, the train rides downtown looking for work with only five dollars in my pocket, applying for jobs so I can pay rent while I finish a story that won’t get published and hear the personnel manager ask, ‘Where do you see yourself in five years?’ I remember long days in studio apartments wondering what I was doing wrong. Here in the city where my parents were born and raised and my family began, I see them seeing me, my father’s disgust at my announcement that I wanted to become a writer, that I wanted to become a police officer as a means of seeing the city as it is, as a means of giving me the time and money to write on my own. I look at myself in a basement opening a body bag, and perceive the disconnection of my life from my most intense passions, and I can feel a weight descend upon me and spill over me.” As that searching passage suggests, Preib’s is a voice that has almost never been heard in American writing: not merely the voice of an ordinary policeman, which is rare enough, but the voice of someone whose working life has been spent in the service industry, “the place for muddled worldviews, unclear ambitions, blunted desires, and other people who just never got it, or thought they had it but didn’t: the divorced, alcoholics, the new age philosophers, dopers, the indolent, the criminal.” That’s a stern view of the life in which Preib spent two decades —longer, if one considers the police force as part
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS Martin Preib
of the “service industry” — but it is tempered by a deep sympathy for the ways in which these invisible, or at best semi-visible, people are exploited and tossed aside by the system for which they labor. Preib is no sentimentalist — far from it — but he believes that “the distracted life of the service worker [is] the most authentic in the city.”
When he joined the police force, Preib “imagined the most glorious aspects of the job.” As he says: “Everyone does. You are filled with this imagery in the [police] academy: catching murderers and gangbangers, working together with other units in stings, becoming a detective, getting promotions. Hauling dead bodies was rarely mentioned.” Yet that’s what he found himself doing, entering “the world of the dead” as an inescapable part of the job. That it often caused revulsion is hardly surprising, given that most of those whose bodies he was called upon to remove were residents of “the unadorned city,” the Chicago that’s rarely glimpsed from the beaches of Lake Michigan or the condominiums and luxury stores of Lake Shore Drive. As Preib hauled these unfortunates to the morgue, his emotions ranged from revulsion to pity with various points in between, but in one especially moving passage he describes something of an epiphany, the case of a “woman, in her forties, somewhat heavy with dark hair, [who] died in the bathtub, rolling into it in the spasms of a cardiac arrest.” The scene as Preib describes it is terrible — far too much so to be quoted further in this newspaper — but as the cops wait around to make their reports they find heartbreaking evidence of “a family torn apart, her children and siblings no longer in contact with her,” and on the walls they find “quotes from the New Testament, reminders of the power of God and prayer, of ultimate forgiveness and peace.” Preib writes: “We feel as if this apartment has been
transformed into an altar as the fading autumn sun illuminates it. The filth and degradation of her body in the bathroom appears heroic from her struggle to rise up. A gentleness, a humanity, and a sincerity linger in the apartment in the quotes of the New Testament on the wall,
LITERARY CALENDAR JUNE 14-19, 2010
14 MONDAY | 6:30 P.M. Ira Sukrungruang, an assistant professor of English at the University of South Florida, discusses and signs his new memoir, “Talk Thai: The Adventures of Buddhist Boy,” at Busboys and Poets, 2021 14th St. NW, 202-387-7638. 7 P.M. Stephen Kinzer, a professor of international relations at Boston University, discusses and signs his new book, “Reset: Iran, Turkey, and America’s Future,” at Politics and Prose Bookstore, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW, 202-364-1919. 8:30 P.M. Mothertongue, a
community group that hosts monthly open-mic and spoken-word events to embolden women to share their voices, will hold a post-Pride Weekend event at the Black Cat (1811 14th St. NW) featuring Arden Eli Hill (a writer, poet and poetry editor for Breath and Shadow, an online journal of disability culture and literature) along with youth from the Sexual Minority Youth Assistance League (SMYAL), followed by an open-mic segment. Doors open at 8 p.m. There is a suggested donation of $10 to support nonprofit SMYAL’s efforts to help GBLT youth in their
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transition to adulthood. For more details, visit
www.mothertongue.dc.wordpress.com.
15 TUESDAY | 6:30 P.M. Tad Daley, the writing fellow with International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, discusses and signs his new book, “Apocalypse Never: Forging the Path to a Nuclear Weapon-Free World,” at Reiter’s Scientific & Professional Books, 1900 G St. NW, 202-223-3327. 7:30 P.M. Carolyn Parkhurst, author of the best-selling novel “The Dogs of Babel,” reads from and signs her new novel, “The Nobodies Album,” at Borders Books-Baileys Crossroads, Route 7 at Columbia Pike, Baileys Crossroads, 703-998-0404.
16 WEDNESDAY | 6:30 P.M. Andrew Young, a veteran civil rights leader as well as a former mayor of Atlanta and U.S. congressman, discusses his new book, “Walk in My Shoes: Conversations Between a Civil Rights Legend and his Godson on the Journey Ahead,” along with his godson, Kabir Sehgal, at the National Press Club, 529 14th St. NW. The event is free, but space is limited; RSVP at 202-662-7523 or e-mail
opus@press.org. 6:45 P.M. The Smithsonian Resident Associate Program presents scholar Anthony McCormack discussing James Joyce’s novel “Ulysses” to mark the 105th anniversary of Bloomsday (the date on which Joyce’s novel takes place) at the S. Dillon Ripley Center. McCormack’s lecture will be enlivened with dramatic readings from the classic novel by actor Scott Sedar. And all attending will raise a glass to toast the anniversary in style. Tickets are $45 for nonmembers; call 202-633-3030 or visit
www.smithsonianassociates.org. 7 P.M. The Harvard Club of
Washington, D.C., and American Independent Writers will host a celebration of Bloomsday with readings from James Joyce’s novel “Ulysses” at Guapo’s Tenleytown restaurant (upper level), 4515 Wisconsin Ave. NW. A bevy of local talent will be on hand to interpret selected chapters from Joyce’s mammoth novel, including broadcaster Robert Aubry Davis (who will tackle “Oxen of the Sun”).
17 THURSDAY | Noon. Counterterrorism intelligence consultant Malcolm Nance discusses and signs his new book, “An End to al-Qaeda: Destroying Bin Laden’s Jihad and Restoring America’s Honor,” at the International Spy Museum, 800 F St. NW, 202-393-7798.
19 SATURDAY | 1 P.M. Steve Dryden discusses the illustrated “Peirce Mill: 200 Years in the Nation’s Capital,” a history of the local landmark that is now a center for learning about early technology of flour production, at Politics and Prose Bookstore, 202-364-1919.
SPECIAL NOTICE | The Literacy Council of Montgomery County will hold an orientation sessions for volunteers interested in helping adults learn to read, write and speak English on Tuesday, July 6, at 7:30 p.m. at the Rockville Library, 21 Maryland Ave., Rockville. Once volunteers have completed the orientation, they can select a two-part training session that fits their schedules. The next planned workshop will be on Saturday, July 17 and 31, from 9:15 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. each day at the Rockville Library. For complete details, call 301-610-0030, e-mail
info@literacycouncilmcmd.org or visit
www.literacycouncilmcmd.org.
For more literary events, go to
washingtonpost.com/gog/ and search “book event.”
statements about endurance, faith, and love, the kind of conviction that exudes and sustains a deep humanity. There is none of the judgment, spitefulness, or condemnation of the Old Testament, nothing in the apartment that is left to condemn the estranged family, no bitterness at a life ended too early, no rage at the cruelty of the employer or the coldness of the disability insurers, or the failures of the medical people to save her. In the things present and the things absent, the elements of a living religion linger about the body: endurance, faith, forgiveness, purity of heart.” That’s a remarkable passage, but there are
many others of comparable power in the pages of “The Wagon.” Mostly Preib is meditative, but he also can be funny and/or angry. One especially vivid passage occurs when he and his partner see “three yuppies on the sidewalk” harassing “the African driver” of the taxi that has brought them from Lincoln Square to Clark Street. The yuppies —two young women and a young man, all transparently drunk — are refusing to pay the fare because they claim, inaccurately, that the driver cheated them. The women are nasty and abusive. One of them says to Preib, “I’m not paying anything.... I’ve got more education in my finger than you’ll ever have.” Preib finally gets the young man to listen to reason, they pay the cabdriver and the confrontation ends, but Preib allows himself a most gratifying fantasy in which he arrests the three, handcuffs them, takes them to the processing room and sends them to the dreaded county jail. Too bad he didn’t. Apart from writing about police work — taking the reader into a world not many are likely to know — Preib also writes about the literature he loves and the writing he’s been working away at for years. He’s a devotee of Walt Whitman and Herman Melville: “What calls me to them is their strong conviction, a faith in their writing, a religious sense.” For himself, “there is a kind of faith that lingers in realism, a belief that knowing the city will lead somewhere beyond the city.” He has justified and realized that faith in “The Wagon,” a quite remarkable book that is much larger than its slender dimensions.
yardleyj@washpost.com
KLMNO
SUNDAY, JUNE 13, 2010
WASHINGTON BESTSELLERS HARDCOVER
FICTION 1 THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET’S NEST
2 THE SPY (Putnam, $27.95). By Clive Cussler 2
(Knopf, $27.95). By Stieg Larsson. The Millennium Trilogy ends as Salander hunts for her failed assassin.
1
and Justin Scott. Isaac Bell returns, confronted with the murder of Navy researchers as WWI looms.
3 BULLET (Berkley, $26.95). By Laurell K. Hamilton 4 THE HELP (Amy Einhorn, $24.95) 1
The Mother of All Darkness, the first vampire, has devious plans for Anita Blake, now back in St. Louis.
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By Kathryn Stockett. A frank chronicle of the lives of several black maids working in a town in 1960s Miss.
5 THE BOURNE OBJECTIVE (Grand Central, $27.99) 6 THE BURNING WIRE (Simon & Schuster, $26.99) 7 INNOCENT (Grand Central, $27.99) 8 61 HOURS (Delacorte, $28) 1
By Eric Van Lustbader. Master operative Jason Bourne parries with a formidable foe — and a creepy cabal.
1
By Jeffery Deaver. Lincoln Rhyme turns the lights out on a killer using the electrical grid to commit murder.
5
By Scott Turow. Rusty Savitch is a murder suspect once more in this sequel to “Presumed Innocent.”
3
By Lee Child. Ex-military cop Jack Reacher finds himself stranded in a small town with big (drug) problems.
9 HEART OF THE MATTER (St. Martin’s, $26.99) 10 STORM PREY (Putnam, $27.95) 4
By Emily Giffin. Alternating voices narrate this tale of a doctor’s life: his wife and the woman he’s drawn to.
3
By John Sandford. When a robbery results in a death, Lucas Davenport’s wife is a star witness.
NONFICTION/GENERAL 1 THE BIG SHORT: INSIDE THE DOOMSDAY MACHINE
(Norton, $27.95). By Michael Lewis The murky world of financial derivatives.
2 WOMEN FOOD AND GOD: AN UNEXPECTED PATH TO
ALMOST EVERYTHING (Scribner, $24) By Geneen Roth. Tackling compulsive eating.
3 OPERATION MINCEMEAT: HOW A DEAD MAN AND A 4 SPOKEN FROM THE HEART (Scribner, $30)
ORGANIZATIONS FROM THE INSIDE OUT (Jossey-Bass, $27.95). By Seth Kahan
1
BIZARRE PLAN FOOLED THE NAZIS AND ASSURED AN ALLIED VICTORY (Harmony, $25.99). By Ben Macintyre
5
By Laura Bush. The former first lady’s reflections on eight years in the White House and what came before.
5 GETTING CHANGE RIGHT: HOW LEADERS TRANSFORM 6 TO SAVE AMERICA: STOPPING OBAMA’S SECULAR- 7 WAR (Twelve, $26.99). By Sebastian Junger
SOCIALIST MACHINE (Regnery, $29.95) By Newt Gingrich. More pummeling of the president.
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Fourteen months embedded with the 173rd Airborne Brigade in Afghanistan’s Korengal Valley.
8 STRENGTHSFINDER 2.0: . . . ONLINE TEST FROM
GALLUP’S “NOW, DISCOVER YOUR STRENGTHS” (Gallup, $21.95). By Tom Rath
9 SH*T MY DAD SAYS (It, $15.99). By Justin Halpern 10 THE PROMISE: PRESIDENT OBAMA, YEAR ONE 1
A son gleans wisdom from his 73-year-old dad after moving back home; inspiration for a new sitcom.
3
(Simon & Schuster, $28). By Jonathan Alter Has the “Change We Can Believe In” materialized?
Rankings reflect sales for the week ended June 6, 2010. The charts may not be reproduced without permission from Nielsen BookScan. Copyright © 2010 by Nielsen BookScan. (The right-hand column of numbers represents weeks on this list, which premiered in Book World on Jan. 11, 2004. The bestseller lists in print alternate between hardcover and paperback.)
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Paperback Bestsellers at
voices.washingtonpost.com/political-bookworm
17 1 3 8 12
WEDNESDAY IN STYLE: Carolyn Parkhurst
MARION ETTLINGER
BOOK WORLD THIS WEEK
COMING IN STYLE
MONDAY In Craig Nova’s atmospheric new novel, The Informer, a prostitute in 1930s Berlin works as a double agent.
TUESDAY The Overton Window, by Fox News pundit Glenn Beck, is a political thriller.
WEDNESDAY Jennifer Egan’s novel A Visit From the Goon Squad is an inventive series of stories with a music producer at their center. Carolyn Parkhurst’s The Nobodies Album is a novel about a writer whose rock-musician son is arrested for murder. And Books on Fatherhood.
THURSDAY The Ninth: Beethoven and the World in 1824, by Harvey Sachs.
FRIDAY A battered wife copes by developing an alter ego in Joshilyn Jackson’s novel Backseat Saints.
SATURDAY In his novel The Marrowbone Marble Company, Glenn Taylor puts rural West Virginia under the microscope.
voices.washingtonpost.com/political-bookworm
Join us as we debate the issues and authors making news today.
6
Read our blog, Political Bookworm, which focuses on books that stir the national political conversation.
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