March 11 - "Juan the Cell-Phone Salesman"

“Juan the Cell-Phone Salesman”
by Deb Olin Unferth
Minor Robberies (2007)

* (Eh) Realistic

A woman returns home for the holidays to find pressure in the form of mother and younger sister to call the eligible Juan, the cellular phone salesman, for a date.

There was little to enjoy in this rather awkward story of family pressure. The social contract of leaving messages on the telephones of strangers just doesn’t excite me – or even interest me – in the way that almost any other topic might. Telephones and I simply do not mix. There is also some very weird word play going on in these sentences. I think I understand that the author is attempting to add style to the writing, but here it is blatantly obvious and attention seeking, which detracts from the overall style and rhythm sought. For me, it’s just a boring and dull clump of words on the page.