I think my favorite short story out of the selection was Symphony. I wish that I could put a date on when it was published for more context, but I can't. It seems to explore the life of a supposed slut, and how fantastical people make it sound. In places, it's remarkably tongue-in-cheek- "I woke up in Phillip's bed. Come here, he's in my hair. You can smell him."- and in other places, it's quietly poetic: "After the only part of him I will ever hold collapsed inside me he said 'You are so incredibly gentle.'" I think the best craft to take away from Symphony is that you often need to go outside of your comfort zone to find topics to write about that no one else has written about, to be original. So many authors shy away from talking about sex and love in fear of being thought of as silly and frivolous, but there's so many unexplored complexities and nuances in those two concepts.
Sacred is possibly the best word in the story. It's strange in a story about a woman who sleeps around often, with so many people that the act of sex isn't special, but that makes it stand out more.
Sacred:
a : unassailable, inviolable
Sacred means precious, beyond reproach. It's a word associated with religion and a higher power.
"I lost fifteen pounds and the men want me again." I feel like this is the most important sentence in the story because it's so ridiculous, and it calls back to the sort of nasty things ladies say about one another. "She got skinny and now she's a slut." The entire story gains perspective with this establishing sentence as being fantastical and silly.
She sounds so in love, like the crazy love were you enjoy doing everything together, even folding laundry together. Symphony is a great title though because sex can be portrayed in many ways. I also enjoy when writers write about the embarrassing blushing comments. Sometimes they are the best story to read. Symphony isn't raunchy it is beautiful if you can understand that love. I also compared Reunion and Popular Mechanics. Popular Mechanics was very stressful! I didn't feel like I was reading it, it almost felt like I was watching a movie. Reunion is lighter and you do find yourself laughing at it, especially when he calls the server different languages
ReplyDeleteI think it's interesting how each person interprets these stories differently. I, personally, found no humor in "Reunion". I found the father to be arrogant, rude, and obnoxious. It does, in fact, have a different tone than "Popular Mechanics". That story was intense the whole way through and for me at least, left me staring wide eyed at the page at the ending.
ReplyDeleteI thought Popular mechanics was very intense too. I was so anxious while reading it. I know it was just a story, but it felt like I was looking into someone's worse day ever. It was heartbreaking. I do think the 15 pounds sentence was important in Symphony. I think it shows how weight can mean so much to people and draw attention to them in ways they were unprepared for.
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