Han Ong

A short story (or so it appears; feels completed and not part of a novel but these days who knows?) by Han Ong, a writer not familiar to me, rounds out the New Yorker double (?!) Fiction Issue. This piece, Javi, after the central character (full name Javier) begins w J arriving unannounced at the house of a famous artist, as 82-year-old woman living alone in New Mexico. J has walked some 20 miles from his home looking for work; has had a few run-ins w the police who suspect him of vagrancy and panhandling but don't arrest or mistreat him. He's learned that the artist is seeking some household help in hopes of avoiding an inevitable move to a nursing home. She's Kurt and crusty and J promises to work hard and stay out of her way, and the 2 hit it off. J know nothing at all about art, which is to his advantage- and hers. He's not an acolyte, and he can give her an honest and fresh perspective on her latest work. Up to a point this seems like a story loosely based on the later years of Georgia O'Keeffe - and perhaps set a few decades ago. But the story at some point shifts its focus as J's mother arrives w several other women from Mexico, and the artist gives them shelter, employment, and forged ID papers - and ultimately helps J transport the women to a safe-haven church in LA, at which point the story ends (and as a side note, at which point the story becomes a counterpart to another story or excerpt in this issue - Coates's Conviction). Interesting to note that the end note says that on the NYer web site Ong discusses how fiction can be usurped by current events. I can easily believe that Ong started out writing one kind of story - about J's developing relationship w the artist and how that affected her work (and both of their lives) - but by the end was writing a story about today's immigration issues. Both are good and worthy approaches, but I do feel that the characters in the second phase of the story are not as well established and that this phase of the story feels a bit rushed and unexamined.

Sent from my iPhone