Short Stories

I've always been intrigued by the short story and author's ability to write so much with so little. I think the short story is all about economy and finding the perfect word. A few weeks ago, I despaired at not being able to attend a workshop that I had set my heart on attending. It was in CA and I had hoped to take in a day of sailing while there, but the gods conspired and voila - I am in T-town instead.

So I did what any self-respecting girl does - I went shoe shopping, caught a matinee and then found a book. I picked up "Inventing the Abbots" by Sue Miller and have been mezmerized ever since. Here is a passage that brought me up short when I read it:

"....For a moment, as she walked silently across the kitchen, she worried about leaving the house, about what seemed like an abandonment of Greg, of them all. But she had no power anymore -- had never had the power, although at one time she thought she did -- to stave off ruin, to guard her son against his share of pain. And for herself, right now, she wanted Joe. She wanted, just as Greg did, the illusion of wholeness, or repair, the broken parts fitting..."

P 125, "Leaving Home".

This is the kind of writing that cut right through my academic "let's figure out the short story.." obsession and took me right where good writing takes any reader - quick to the emotions with a salute to the structure. I don't feel manipulated when I read this passage because the story is so well crafted that I am there with the character completely. This kind of writing hits poignancy bypassing sentimentalism.

The shoes were OK, too.