A Month of Novellas, Book 10: The Railway Police - Hortense Calisher (1966)

vacationing on bedroom dresser

I will admit that I'd never heard of Hortense Calisher before somehow finding out she'd written some novellas that fit the bill for this month's project.

And I was a little appalled at my ignorance. Here's a woman whose work has been put out by the Modern Library - whose selections I highly respect - and forget about reading one of her works, I hadn't even heard her name. Ever.

Well, now I've read one of her books. I won't be judging her work by just this one title, as it would be unfair, but geesh.

The Railway Police is a strange little novel, only 44 pages long, but yet it seemed soooo much longer.

We get to meet a social worker who suffers from a congenital illness which has made all (or most) of the hair on her head to fall off. She's compensated for this by having a large and expensive collection of wigs which she keeps in a room of their own in her apartment.

And then she has a transformative experience while riding a commuter train. She witnesses a young man who's attempting to ride the train for free, try to escape the clutches of the railway police and instead get dragged away from the train.
Apparently seeing this makes her see that she's been living an untruthful life and so decides to become a hobo. I wish I was making this up. She has some money - how else could she afford all those magnificent wigs on a social worker's salary? - but arranges it all with her lawyer so she can become a 'vagrant'.

Before this all happens, we are treated to a sad tale of a lover's rejection of her baldness, but in the end, and yes, I am giving away the ending, she becomes a vagrant...on purpose.

This bothered me from beginning to end. The writing was overly done and the set up just beyond belief.

Like I said, I don't want to judge Ms. Calisher by this story alone, so I'll try out another one soonish. But this one definitely was not for me.