No Wasted Word: Billie the Bull by xTx
No Wasted Word is a bi-monthly column where Caitlin Reade Keenan discusses and reviews books by contemporary writers published by independent presses.
Written by Caitlin Reade Keenan
I steal little glass condiment jars. You know, the ones that they give you with hotel room service. I steal those whenever I see them. I can’t help but want to take one. They’re just so sweet and cute. I used to have a dollhouse when I was little, and I still go online sometimes and look at all the bitty things that people put in them: the miniature garden hoses, the mini sacks of sugar, the little lamps. I love small things. So, of course, I loved getting xTx’s tiny chapbook, Billie the Bull (Dzanc). It’s slight, thin, and dainty. I slipped it into the inner pocket of my purse and carried it around with me for two weeks, reaching in and fingering the smooth, cool cover.
The book is petite but it throbs loudly with its own pulse. It’s not quite like anything else I’ve ever read. How perfect that it is pocket-sized because, I promise you, that belies the depth of character and story found within (which includes giants, a bull in a bullfight, a weaver that makes the world’s most exquisite fabric from the hair of unborn children, an obsessive collector, rapists, a disappointed father, twins, mothers and a finder of a beverage that cleans, polishes, whitens, and straightens teeth, among other things).
I’ve been reading xTx’s online short fiction for a while now. I’ve been stunned by how fearless her writing is, and her ability to say so much with such concise language. It’s impressive when a writer writes a masterful 1000 page novel, and it’s as impressive when a writer does what xTx manages to do in 63 pages.
I know this is supposed to be a discussion of the book, but I don’t want tell a reader too much about the story. For one, the book is really short and to give too much away might be a problem. Secondly, I think one of nicest things about the experience of reading Billie the Bull is piecing together the puzzle that xTx has constructed. Not to say that it’s convoluted or hard to follow but its structure is unique and I enjoyed the initial sorting through of what was what. Also, everything happens so quickly.
This is in part because xTx is an expert at handling pacing and because that woman knows how to write a tight sentence. There is not a wasted word or a missing one. Like this gem, “Splayed across the wreckage of the park, in the new horror of her now. The absence in her heart. Tiny screams fading into the dawn, the bull within her rested with slim satisfaction.”
Lists are central to this story and its form. Ever since I was a little girl I’ve loved reading lists and this chapbook is filled with and well served by them. This is because xTx is great at putting things together and making you consider them in a new way. My favorite list in this story is one titled “Reporting” and it includes the entries: an albino skunk, and all the freckles from every child who wished them gone.
I carried this book around with me for weeks because it was so damn cute and because I love little things. I plan to keep it with me for a while longer until one day I when I will covertly slip it into someone else’s gym bag or back pocket in hopes that they too have the experience of being mesmerized by this pocket-sized book, with such an epic story.
