The Fruit of the Month

Cahk: Requesting speedy deletion (CSD A10). (TW)

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Intro: Published in 1988, “Fruit of the Month” is a fictional short story collection written by Abby Frucht, an American novelist, educator, and short fiction writer. Many stories in this collection are told from the perspective of women, although at times the narrators are not named. Some of the stories are written in the style of traditional American realism, although Frucht deviates in form, deploying postmodern narration and unconventional plot devices. Many of the stories depict characters who work in universities, shining a anthropological light on world of academia.


Fruit of the Month Stories:

Midnight
“Midnight” is a story which follows a stream of consciousness style through the point of view of one woman (the narrator) at varying ages in her life. The narrator tells us the story in present tense between the 1960s and 1970s. There is no firm plot and the narration is told in fragments like a memory bank. The child narrator first recounts her mother anxiously shopping for groceries to put in their basement bunker, and discussing recipes. It is implied that the family is planning for some catastrophe as they stock up on food. The story shifts to the narrator’s college age self in the middle of the night, wherein she phones her professor with whom she’s having an affair. The narrator then describes her relationship with Charlie, the college professor she ends up marrying. She is his third wife, and Charlie had been unfaithful to the previous two, which marks a pattern of infidelity. The narrator describes a scene at the grocery store in detail, wherein Charlie and the narrator shop for tortillas and accidentally leave them behind. The narrator is angry and they decide to go out for pizza, and then burgers. Throughout much of this story, the narrator is concerned with and frustrated with the availability of food. The narrator recalls being worried about buying a turkey in time for their holiday dinner. The story ends with Charlie telling her that he’s going to have dinner at a student’s house for a date--she assumes that the student must be cooking him chicken. She then recalls an “explosion” in her chest, as she realizes he is cheating on her. She turns on the TV to see that the government has “approved funding for a B1 Bomber” and she depressingly feels open to any war or catastrophe that might occur.


2. Peace and Passivity
“Peace and Passivity” follows the consciousness of a short, infantile man named Tom who dates an ambitious, adventurous woman named Susan. The 3rd person omniscient narrator tells how Jeremy watches Susan, who is slightly bigger and taller than he is. The plot and images are mitigated through his gaze. Tom watches Susan through the window as she slips on the bannister of their porch in the middle of winter. He doesn’t help her. The narrator shifts to depict Tom watching Susan interact with her gay male friend, Jeremy. The narrator then describes Tom’s seemingly insignificant clerical work for a sociologist at a university who conducts research. His day-to-day life is boring and tired. The narrative switches to describe Tom’s Saturday ritual at the local diner--he flirts with a homely waitress named Leslie with caked-on makeup. He gets joy out of their flirtatious interactions. The story ends after Tom walks Leslie to her dentist appointment and kisses her on the forehead. He goes home to find Susan asleep in the bath, dreaming. He wishes that she could take him with her in her dream world.

3. Fruit of the Month
“Fruit of the Month” is where this short story collection gets its name. The narrator tells the story in 1st person perspective in the past tense, “a few years ago” during the summer. The narrator mentions Ronald Reagan on the television, meaning the story takes place in the 1980s. The narrator has a queer friend named June with whom she picks strawberries illegally. Their strawberry picking excursion is cloaked in erotic symbolism. While they pick strawberries, June asks her if she’d like to go sailing with her on the following Saturday and she agrees. Then, the narrator comes to her house before they are to leave for sailing, and finds June passed out. June tells her she needs more sleep and falls back asleep, leaving the narrator alone in June’s trashy, messy apartment. The narrator eats many strawberries from June’s fridge and waits for June to wake up who sleeps with a masculine-looking woman named Faye. The narrator is hurt that June did not prioritize her visit, but she still waits passing the time while June sleeps. Around noon Faye, June and the narrator leave to go sailing. A storm comes over the ocean while they sail and later the narrator returns home to her boyfriend. She becomes sick with a rash, and realizes that she has an allergy to the strawberries. She remarks that she never ate a strawberry again. The narrator felt a pang of homo-erotic love for June, and became sick from the strawberries that they picked together.

4. Engagements
The narrator speaks in the 1st person to describe her position of marriage: she does not want a large wedding, and only wants to marry in the event that she has a child. She has a romantic partner named Jeffrey, with whom she moves into a house under conditions of rent-to-own. The long term agreement of the lease makes the narrator uneasy-she does not feel comfortable living in one place forever. The narrator comments that Jeffery wants to have kids and so they start trying to conceive with no luck. The story is realistic, and the story is partially chronological, documenting the rituals the narrator and Jeffrey have together. They read in bed together and lead dull and repetitive lives. The couple live across from Katy (who’s pregnant) and Sam, who are married with a child. The narrator comments that Katy is different than she is, looking down on her monotonous and sad life as a wife and mother. As the story ends, the narrator notices how Jeffrey looks and takes interest in other women. The narrator peacefully realizes the mundane nature of American middle class marriage.

5. Paradise
“Paradise” follows an unknown young woman’s thoughts and descriptions of her friends, Joanie and Mary. The narrator depicts she and Joanie going out to the beach, having fun, and smoking cigarettes. The two women are jolly, fun-loving, and drunk. After they leave the beach, Joanie and the narrator gravitate towards their older friend, Mary. The narrator describes Mary’s house and kitchen in detail. Mary is an enigma-- she is outgoing, she drinks alcohol, and she is fun to hang out with. The narrator comments that she wonders about the inner-workings of Mary’s personal life and history. The three women go on a picnic and drink. At the end of the story, the narrator finally notices the anger in Mary’s voice as she jokes, drunk. The narrator notices Mary’s body language and pinpoints a certain emotional toil in her voice. The story ends on a note of emotional realization.

6. The Anniversary
“The Anniversary” follows Martha in 3rd person omniscient narration, riding the train from Hicksville, New York. Martha closes her eyes in her seat, as she recalls her ex-husband who now lives with a 22-year old piano player. Martha remembers that her anniversary with her ex-husband is “today,” and she recalls how they were married for 18 years. Martha reluctantly gets off at the last stop before she haphazardly looks through her belongings to make sure she grabs everything before exiting. In the parking lot, a mugger catches her off guard and takes her hostage in her own car, threatening her with a knife. Martha can’t figure out what the mugger wants from her, but she suspects he wants to rape her. Martha contemplates her options. She thinks about honking the horn, screaming, or traversing the parking lot to get to the phones. The story ends with Martha’s contemplations as she imagines simply driving home. But as she starts driving, her vision becomes dark and she is not able to see anything. The ending of this story is ambiguous. Either Martha imagines the assailant altogether, or she dies at the hands of her assailant, thereby losing touch with reality.

7. Winter
The story, “Winter” follows Lydia, a woman who lives in Virginia and dates a musician named John who sells drugs. Lydia finds inspiration in John’s musical performance, and is attracted to his allure as a lawless risk-taker. Lydia soon meets Baby, John’s ex with whom they have a child. Baby tells her that John is unfaithful, and told her that she found Lydia’s phone number in John’s jeans while doing his laundry. Although she apologizes, Lydia does not seem fazed to learn that John is unfaithful. Lydia doesn’t seem to care. John starts spending more time with Lydia, socializing and drinking. One night Baby keeps calling John for help with paying for rent and childcare. John does not answer Baby’s call and refuses to contribute any money for rent after deserting her. Lydia starts to feel guilty for Baby. The story ends with Lydia coming over to pay Baby’s rent on the bad side of town. Baby is grateful as Lydia writes her a check because she is filled with guilt for participating in John’s destructive negligence.

8. How to Live Alone
“How to Live Alone” is a story depicting two middle-aged friends: Nancy and Jolene. Jolene is the sister of Nancy’s late husband who has passed away. The narrator follows the thoughts and sentimental memories of Nancy as she drives on the East Coast landscape. The narrative and jumbled chronology of Nancy’s drive mimics the conscious wanderings of her own mind. She drives from the Hamptons, to Stamford Connecticut to visit with Jolene. They cry together. On the advice of her neighbor, Nancy drives to West Hampton Beach to relax and collect shells. She mourns her loss at first and then fantasizes about the possibilities of living alone. Nancy contemplates selling her beach home to live in a farm. She thinks maybe she can open her own interior design business in New York City. The narrative ends on an optimistic note as Nancy stares at a young man praying in the middle of the resort dining room. She leans in to hear his prayer, as if she may be able to relate to him.

9. Trees at Night
The story “Trees at Night” opens with a discussion between Mandy and her friend, David who discuss a local sexual offender who is on the loose in their neighborhood. They drink wine together. Mandy contemplates the boundaries and definition of what constitutes rape, as David attempts to grope her under the guise of humor. Mandy and David each complain about their respective relationships and contemplate whether they should stay together with their partners. The narrative shifts to report that a local college girl who reported an assault in David’s front yard. The cops are called to investigate and question David. The narrator focuses again on Mandy and David as they discuss Mandy’s fears of an intruder in her home, heavily intoxicated. The story ends with David dropping Mandy off to her boyfriend’s house and she stumbles inside. This story has a significantly blurry narrative--aside from dialogue between the characters, it is ambiguous as to whether David is the sex-offender in question.

10. Fate and the Poet
“Fate of the Poet” depicts the male protagonist Larry Oliver with narrative introspection. The narrator refers to Larry as “the poet.” Much like Frucht’s other stories, the narrator flows between time periods and consciousness. Larry is a poet and writer who protects his manuscripts. He is terrified of someone stealing his work and publishing it, because he does not want the thief to misrepresent his work and skew the meanings. The narrator reveals that the protagonist is a 4th year university student, and has a lover who cheats on her husband, a grad student. The narrator then goes into the perception of the poet’s lover; she imagines the possibility of divorcing her husband and running away to another country. She becomes possessive of her lover, the poet in the past tense. The story ends with the lover still married to her husband. She reads in the University magazine that Larry is married with two children in Boston. She half-heartedly kisses her husband and remarks to him that she’d like to take a sabbatical in Boston. It is ambiguous as to whether the lover plans to cheat with Larry, the poet, again.

11. Nuns in Love
“Nuns in Love” follows Cynthia, a young woman who likes to tease her lover, Richard. The narrator describes Cynthia’s pleasurable power that she has over Richard. She likes to lie and tease him sexually without submitting to him. Cynthia’s performative activities with Richard are repetitive and similar on each occasion; he takes her to dinner and accommodates her home. The narrator suggests that Richard is desperate because he is attracted to homely women with no specific talents or accomplishments. Cynthia then tells Richard a lie about catching a ride with a nun in a red convertible-- the narrator does not confirm whether the story she tells is true. Regardless, Cynthia keeps imagining this nun when she walks on the street. At the end of the story, Cynthia finally submits to Richard and invites him to her apartment to make love to her. As they lay in bed, Cynthia notices a nun in a tree waving at her. Richard starts kissing her before Cynthia is able to wave back. It is unclear as to whether the nun is real or simply a figment of Cynthia’s imagination.

12. The Habit of Friendship
“The Habit of Friendship” is narrated in first person by an unnamed woman. She recounts her performative friendships with other women who have never attempted to truly gain closeness. The narrator does not have many close friendships outside of her marriage. But the narrator departs to tell us about her fat friend, Carla. Carla is opposite to the narrator in almost every way. Carla is overweight and keeps a messy home with an alcoholic husband named Mike. While the narrator describes her own home as neat and clean, she remarks how it must be a crime to clean in Carla’s apartment because it stays so messy. In describing her friend, the narrator switches between endearing language and low-blow insults about her weight and appearance. The narrator tells how she moves towns and leave Carla behind. After the move, the narrator is never able to make authentic friendships like the one she has had with Carla. The story ends with the narrator visiting Carla’s home anticipating to visit her, only to find her absent.

Themes and Continuities:
The stories in “Fruit of the Month” often involve food-related settings such as the kitchen or the grocery store. Critics have commented on the focalization on the kitchen and food as gendered, and deliver analyses based in food studies and feminist criticism. The subjects and plots of her stories follow American characters, and mention real historical events throughout the collection. Although the plots of these stories are fragmented, Frucht’s writing is in the style of American realism. Her narrators are often unnamed, however intimately inspected by way of stream of consciousness and free indirect discourse. All of the stories in this collection follow fragmented narratives with some unresolved portions of the narrative or chronology. The narrators flows freely between time and setting, and thereby transcends traditional storytelling. Frucht’s writing style has a paradoxical effect by deploying realist images and descriptions, while still delivering a fragmented narrative. Frucht’s “Fruit of the Month” mixes form and plot conventions.


Awards and Other Notability:
Iowa Short Fiction Prize (link)

Critical Response and Reviews:
Critical Reception of these stories reflected conversations of the postmodern form and feminism.


About the Author
Abby Frucht is an American novelist, short fiction writer, and faculty member at Vermont College of Fine Arts. She has won awards in the field of writing, namely the Iowa Short Fiction Prize for this collection, “Fruit of the Month”. Frucht was born in 1957 in Huntington New York. She has taught from the MFA writing department at Vermont College of Fine Arts for since 1997. Abby Frucht currently resides in Oshkosh Wisconsin and has raised two sons.


Other Literary Works:
Frucht has written six novels and two short story collections. Her works tend to focus on gendered topics such as: the societal implications of marriage, the female identity, female sensuality and sexuality, domesticity, and middle class life. Her fiction is usually told through the perspective of an unknown, varying female character. A select few of her stories are told through male character in 3rd person narration, as well. The theme of infidelity comes up frequently in “Fruit of the Month,” suggesting the author’s preoccupation with the complexities of romantic relationships.

Short fiction collections:
Fruit of the Month (year)
The Bell at the End of the Rope (year)

Novels:
Polly’s Ghost
Life Before Death
Are You Mine?
Licorice
Snap
(and most recently) A Well-Made Bed


Author’s Academic Life and Contribution:
As of Summer 2018, Abby Frucht has taken leave from the MFA Writing Department at Vermont College of Fine Arts, where she has taught for over 20 years.

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