Short Story Monday
I'm really enjoying my short story readings. I seem to have a little routine going with them right now. Every Friday and Saturday night, I climb into bed and read one short story before I start on my current novel. Both selections this weekend were great.
#5. Riding the Doghouse by Randy Devita - An eerie, disquieting story of father and son. A man remembers back to the year he was twelve and accompanied his trucker father for a week in the summer. The uneasiness in this story slowly builds and I really enjoyed it.
#6. My Brother Eli by Joseph Epstein - A man's younger brother (in his seventies) commits suicide and the older brother tells the story of his life. He was a famous writer, self-centered, egotistical, married five times with various children the brother has never met. The author contemplates whether an 'artist' is entitled to special rights and should be excluded from normal, decent behaviour because of their 'gift'. This story was longer than the others in this collection I've read so far and by far the best up to this point. It made me wish for a whole novel about these characters.
See? That has always been my trouble with short stories. I want to read MORE than the author gives!! I guess it's just recently that I am really getting into them. Thank you, Neil Gaiman!!
ReplyDeleteI'm definitely going to have to pick up this collection. It sounds fantastic!! And I'm with you. I am really enjoying reading these over the weekend!
I very much liked "My Brother, Eli." The writing just flows and you can hear the narrator speaking.
ReplyDeleteI didn't get the part in "Riding the Doghouse" about the creepy guy on the radio. How did he know the kid and his father, and the address? Whatever I was supposed to understand about that, I didn't.
stephanie, some are better than others but so far I'm really pleased with the book.
ReplyDeletefrank, I agree, I'm not too sure who the creepy guy is supposed to be but I took him to be a 'Death' or 'The Boogey Man' type of character who was letting the boy know that he'd get his father someday.