“Objects in Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear”
by Joyce Carol Oates
New Sudden Fiction (2007)
* * (Okay) Realistic
A girl stuck caring for her sick mother waits for the handsome pharmacist to drive by her home again, impossibly hoping he’ll take her away from this life she does not desire.
Written as a stream-of-conscious narrative, this story fails to capture my interest. I found the thoughts of the narrator difficult to follow. For a girl with an IQ supposedly in the 160’s, her thoughts are a jumbled mess of incomplete and often awkwardly phrased sentences. I’m not saying anyone’s thoughts are ever completely clear, but when trying to make the writing as accessible as possible, there are other ways to demonstrate a character’s personality and tone that might have been a bit more reader-friendly. There were moments – scenes - that were excellently executed and poignant, but lost in and among the jumbled ramblings of a longing and lonely, and ultimately unlikeable narrator.
5k (Semi) Challenge
13 years ago
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