They Were Always Alive To Me

Border's bookstore usually has a 3 for 2 deal, and as I walked up and down the stacked tables, I came across a sad bear. I never heard of Clifford Chase before this book, but I am impressed. He not only makes social commentary, but he does it through the eyes of an awakened teddy bear.

This is endearing for several reasons. Winkie reminds me of my younger days, which constitutes all but the past five years of my life. For most of my childhood I was wholly aware of the idea that my teddy bears were not alive, yet I still kept some hope that when I left the room or the apartment, they were all walking and talking and knew when we were coming back. They put everything back where they were and we never knew better.

Chase manages to critique a number of institutions: from the police all the way to medical practitioners. After switching owners for years, Winkie slowly awakens to the point where he eventually walks and talks, but when a little girl goes missing, he is the one accused of being a mass-bomber and killer. In this process he is shot, hospitalized, and ridiculed. Still, he forces himself to make beeping sounds in order to imitate a pulse (at which point the attending doctor is congratulated for bringing him back from the dead), makes a friend with a lesbian nurse who stitches his wounds, and is put on trial for actions he did not commit.

Winkie is a fun and endearing novel, full of childhood memories, imagination, and a sorrowful realization that many of our policies and officials are filled with holes so deep, that no amount of stuffing will make them complete.