Rating: 2 1/2 stars

Hector Owen and his wife Faye have been estranged and struggling with their marriage for years. Faye, claiming that Hector needed to focus on his career as a playwright, took it upon herself to abort a pregnancy early on in their relationship; something they‘ve never recovered from.

Moving back to a small North Carolina town after a semi-failed stint in New York where Hec was overcome with stress rendering him “retired,” Hec has plenty of time to consider his life, both past and present. With the distance between he and Faye widening, Hector craves intimacy and as a result gives birth to a little man -- a homunculus named Robin -- born from his navel.

With no creative outlet, Hec continues to slowly unravel and now that his instability has manifested itself in Robin who, among other things, wants to kill Faye, who knows how far his mind will take him. We follow the Owens through each excruciatingly uneventful day as they finally admit that they only stay together because they can’t figure out how to break it off.

Given the vile things that men are known to expel from their bodies, it didn’t shock me that one would give birth to a tiny disgusting man who picks his nose, scratches his balls and has skid marks on his shorts. The description of Robin is unsettling enough, but then to have his nasty ass crawling in the refrigerator and plunging his filthy hands into the olive jar was beyond disgusting. I guess it’s no surprise that I would be slightly nauseous for most of the reading.

Stubblefield has a very accessible writing style that enables him to focus on the mundane life of a married couple and the psychological issues of a low-level has-been, but is able to do it in a way that keeps the reader interested and engaged.
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Hardcover: 256 pages
Publisher: Black Heron Press (March 20, 2009)
ISBN-13: 978-0930773915