Post by sturgeon on Jan 9, 2024 11:48:59 GMT
Dear Investors, it's been a while.
Tenant dies in gentle lesbian's basement, she doesn't know what to do with his dogs, nothing much happens, the end.
What we have here is a wistful piece about the liminal time between death and absence. There's rich character development, and occasionally beautiful flourishes (some phrases that got my attention: "I hope to find shards of perspective lying on the sidewalk"; "cats would know more swear words than dogs"; "I need to be slightly destructive, which is the best way to celebrate being alive"; "Being a bank teller is a bus stop profession").
About a third of the way through ("Sunday is much the same"), my attention threatened to drift - I wondered if there would be some further inciting incident. There wasn't. But the quality of the writing kept me hooked - and then it was over before I knew it.
All told: a thoughtful, quiet piece that, in my opinion, deserves elevation. I vote Yes.
(Note: would benefit from some very minor copyediting in a couple of places.)
Now, it's a total detour, but I apologise for referring to the protagonist as a "lesbian" when the narrative implies that she is bisexual. Many years ago, when I was studying at university, I was shocked to discover that a couple of my friends who loudly identified themselves as lesbians were in fact bisexual, but felt extreme pressure from the wider gay community not to admit it - as if bisexuality was somehow a betrayal of lesbian solidarity. Indeed, my girlfriend at the time was very much bisexual, but in her case she argued that was irrelevant because she was with me exclusively and therefore effectively straight. I am confused by this taboo around bisexuality even among the gay community.
Tenant dies in gentle lesbian's basement, she doesn't know what to do with his dogs, nothing much happens, the end.
What we have here is a wistful piece about the liminal time between death and absence. There's rich character development, and occasionally beautiful flourishes (some phrases that got my attention: "I hope to find shards of perspective lying on the sidewalk"; "cats would know more swear words than dogs"; "I need to be slightly destructive, which is the best way to celebrate being alive"; "Being a bank teller is a bus stop profession").
About a third of the way through ("Sunday is much the same"), my attention threatened to drift - I wondered if there would be some further inciting incident. There wasn't. But the quality of the writing kept me hooked - and then it was over before I knew it.
All told: a thoughtful, quiet piece that, in my opinion, deserves elevation. I vote Yes.
(Note: would benefit from some very minor copyediting in a couple of places.)
Now, it's a total detour, but I apologise for referring to the protagonist as a "lesbian" when the narrative implies that she is bisexual. Many years ago, when I was studying at university, I was shocked to discover that a couple of my friends who loudly identified themselves as lesbians were in fact bisexual, but felt extreme pressure from the wider gay community not to admit it - as if bisexuality was somehow a betrayal of lesbian solidarity. Indeed, my girlfriend at the time was very much bisexual, but in her case she argued that was irrelevant because she was with me exclusively and therefore effectively straight. I am confused by this taboo around bisexuality even among the gay community.
