Cringe-lit. It has roots in the work of David Sedaris, Augusten
Burroughs, and Jonathan Ames, as well as reality TV, the Mortified
tell-all phenomenon, and Found magazine. It’s a genre that
gleefully reveals the most embarrassing aspects of life, not
necessarily to make readers recoil in horror, but to unabashedly show
that we all do terrible things, intentional or not. This isn’t to say
that the writing is cringe-inducing in terms of quality; the best
writers of the style win you over with an underdog sentiment made
palatable by their strong literary chops. Some could even be called
warm and fuzzy. If actor Michael Cera were a book, he’d be
cringe-lit.
It would be wrong, however, to try and squeeze Jonathan Messinger’s
large talents into this small sub-genre without talking about his other
gifts. Sure, there are some classic cringe-lit moments in here (a boy
tries to kiss his older brother’s girlfriend; one dude dresses up like
a robot to spy on his ex), but Messinger is wildly good at switching
moods. His style in the 15 stories that make up Hiding Out doesn’t change much, but each story accomplishes a lingering pang that
makes them all feel like individual showcases.
The opener, “Captain Tomorrow,” is about a 13-year-old videogame
junkie whose sister shows him a hokey Richard Kern-style snuff film.
Messinger (whose day job is being the books editor at Time Out
Chicago) opens the story with the boy shoplifting candy bars and
TV Guide—a display of juvenile malaise—and just
seven pages later is able to dangle some adult-style gloom in our
grill.
In “Christmas Spirit,” Messinger crafts a laugh-out-loud story about
a cranky androgynous angel who visits and steals from a single father.
Even here, he is able to twist the tone of the story into an uneasy
sadness by the end. The following story, “Big Doug Rides Torch,” about
a man having an affair with his neighbor’s wife, is also a highlight,
with the narrator more concerned about hypothetically outrunning a
cheetah on his new moped than facing real issues in his life.
Messinger’s book is full of mishaps and mishaps waiting to happen,
but he somehow transforms the cringes into familiar sparks that shine
and resonate.