May 21 - "Ax"

“Ax”
by Deb Olin Unferth
Minor Robberies (2007)

* * * (Good) Realistic

The scene of a man and woman meeting a man carrying an ax could be interpreted many different ways.

This story is another example of Olin Unferth concocting sentences of such length and complexity that they either succeed wildly or fail spectacularly. The plot of the story – if there even is one – is rendered moot. As a fan of such experimental sentence I am less concerned with the plot – or lack thereof – but with only half of the sentences exploding off the page, the overall story needs work.