Lightbox - KJ Orr

The stories in KJ Orr’s debut collection explore the difficulties of communicating a shared experience between two people. From fellow travellers dealing with grief in their own ways to an astronaut trying to readjust to life at home with his wife, Lightbox deals in ambiguities, contrasting world views, and the difficulties of establishing common ground.
 

In By The Canal, two new lovers are divided by their reactions to a dark incident which occurs whilst they are out walking at night. The pair come across a wounded dog, which must have been hit by a car; deciding that the animal is too badly injured to move, they decide a mercy killing would be best. Unfortunately for them, the dog is far harder to kill than they imagined, and Orr extends the uncomfortable scene to powerful effect. Afterwards, one participant attempts to put it behind them, while the other seems haunted by what they have done. Although they have shared the experience, their reactions are irreconcilably different. Orr asks the reader to consider which response is more valid, or morally justifiable, if either?
 

By contrast, The Human Circadian Pacemaker takes a more established couple attempting to deal with wildly differing experiences. The story is told from the perspective of an astronaut’s wife. Following her husband’s safe return from a long-term mission, she attends champagne receptions and press conferences, but the celebratory atmosphere is undercut by her uncertainty. We are told that, as much as the participants, but 'partners, spouses went through training as well... they were told to expect change,' which could involve 'accelerated ageing: cardiovascular decline, and muscle atrophy, and weakened bones'. The astronauts have shared an experience that sets these men apart from their wives, and other people, and react by forming a tight unit, closed to outsiders. The wife, a journalist, learns by asking questions of others, but her husband cannot articulate what he has been through, and this lack of mutual understanding drives a wedge into their relationship.
 

Other stories feature individuals divided by class, gender, physical capability and outlook; in each, the struggle to communicate experience is ultimately futile. The Lightbox of the title is an effective image, demonstrating the artificiality of our attempts to put ourselves in the shoes of others.

Orr’s writing is well-crafted, and Lightbox demonstrates versatility, from the folk story style of The Inland Sea to the unflinching darkness of By The Canal, but I never really felt drawn in to the collection.  The pacing is very deliberate throughout, and I began to feel that the same point was being made repeatedly; each of the stories was individually fine, but put together they seemed less than the sum of their parts. There is promise here, but Orr needs to exercise less control over her subjects, and allow the darker impulses in her storytelling to come to the fore; that’s where the most interesting aspects of Lightbox can be found.