Father-Son Relationships

Dynamics between fathers and sons are a prominent and repeated feature of the story collection. The stories use these dynamics to emphasize both the difficulties and rewards of such relationships (and familial relationships in general). The first two stories in the collection— “Anything Helps” and “We Live in Water”—depict two men who struggle to fulfill their duties as fathers, and yet the narrative never concedes that it would be better for the fathers to abandon these duties altogether. In “Anything Helps,” Wayne Bittinger struggles to remain sober, and as a result, he lost custody of his son years ago. Nonetheless, he does not lose his determination to achieve sobriety. After buying a book for his son, he even resists the urge to return it and spend the money on alcohol: “Bit stands outside the bookstore holding a twenty-eight-dollar book. Holding twenty-eight dollars. Holding three...