Knockout

In this collection of fiercely funny and often satirical portraits, Jodzio (If You Lived Here You’d Already Be Home) focuses on the quirkiness of everyday people. These stories share a casual and comic tone, and many feature an unnamed narrator. In “Ackerman Is Selling His Sex Chair for Ten Bucks,” the protagonist attends a neighbor’s garage sale. The narrator reveals that he was having an affair with Ackerman’s recently deceased wife, Elaine, and attends the garage sale in hopes of getting a glimpse at the life he could have had. “The Piss Test Place” revolves around a guy who gets a job at a drug-testing center after his metal band breaks up. While dealing with a ruined engagement and his ailing father, the narrator of “Our Mom and Pop Opium Den” has his family business threatened when a large opium chain opens on the same street (though set in America, the exact locations are left vague). The premise of each story is clearly defined in its title and opening paragraphs, but these narratives avoid predictability. In the title story, a man learns how to incapacitate living creatures by pinching their necks, a skill he learned during his time at a drug-rehabilitation facility. Later, while trying to adjust to life at home with his father, a friend recruits him to steal and sell a tiger. Each sentence conveys the notion that anything could happen, and most of the stories lead to purposeful but surprising conclusions. Jodzio’s clean, quick, biting prose demonstrates a firm grasp of storytelling. He grounds the oddness of each narrative with believable human interactions: poignant moments where characters share meaningful connections. (Mar.)