Category: Story Reviews

Pauline Shen reviews short fiction from contemporary writers.

Story Reviews

It’s a Pattern. Commentary on Barbara Diggs’s “You Are What You Eat”

Pauline Shen

We each thrive dependent on how well we nourish ourselves. But what we choose to nourish ourselves with is a story in and of itself. In Barbara Diggs’s “You Are What You Eat,” the reader witnesses the effect of one narrator’s attempts at mitigating rage by replacing it with love. But which ingredients are required? Diggs pulls the reader in with sensual yet surprising language. “Sunny side up, salmonella-scrambled, salsa-slathered, over-hard yellow-white discs fried in bacon grease until the edges curl like wispy brown lace.”

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Story Reviews

Point of no return. Commentary on Brigid Swanick’s “Little White Lies”

Pauline Shen

What happens when you lean-in to heartache? When you take the bitterness and wrap it around yourself like a cloak? When you harness sadness as a means to grab attention from others rather than explore within for true fulfilment? Brigid Swanick’s “Little White Lies” examines the process and outcome of a character who chooses just that. “Their questions and concerns, their desire to help me,” says our narrator-protagonist, “their intense focus entirely on me made me obsessed, made me visible in a world that was otherwise indifferent.”

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Story Reviews

Withheld. Commentary on Lisa Ferranti’s “The Eulogy Competition”

Pauline Shen

Meet our narrator, “I’m the youngest, nicknamed Flaky Suzy.” She’s one of three siblings and has just lost her mother. Someone’s got to write the eulogy. “Three days before her funeral,” we learn, “in an uncharacteristic act of democracy, Dad tells the three of us to decide who will deliver the eulogy.” And so, here we have the portrait of a family, each member with his or her own disposition and traits, and to each a unique set of memories surrounding mom’s life that intersect with family dynamics. Suzy’s narration, however, includes not just her unique take, but a hidden strand of events.

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Story Reviews

Rawr. Commentary on Alison Wassell’s “A Stupid Rubber Dinosaur”

Pauline Shen

It can all change in the blink of an eye. Or, in this case, with a toy “dinosaur in the middle of the road.” But what changes as the narrator in Alison Wassell’s “A Stupid Rubber Dinosaur” illustrates the story is a matter of perspective. And this narrator tugs the reader into both the incident and the outcome by head and heart.

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Story Reviews

Homemade. Commentary on Vicki Wilson’s “Jelly”

Pauline Shen

“[T]his was my first time making strawberry jelly,” says our narrator-protagonist. And the measurements need to be just right. Vicki Wilson’s “Jelly” opens with emphasis on deliberate and careful measurement. But as we’ll soon discover, there’s more at stake than making a common spread for toast. “If the jelly set, it was a sign that my mom wasn’t mad at me.” This recipe and its progress from harvested ingredients to set jelly is the metaphorical vehicle by which the reader is transported through generations in this family—past, present, and… future.

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Story Reviews

Gone. Commentary on J. Paul Ross’s “A Hundred and Twenty-Seven”

Pauline Shen

As J. Paul Ross’s story “A Hundred and Twenty-Seven” unfolds, our narrator paints a picture. At first, this is a very narrow perspective. As the story goes on, however, this picture becomes clearer and fuller. It begins with our protagonist, Derrick Crosby, who, “was following 127 people online, and all of them were women.” The narrative then proceeds in a casual and languid manner that mimics the action of scrolling through a social media newsfeed.

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Story Reviews

Following the Crowd. Commentary on Lisa Shimotakahara’s “The Year of 13”

Pauline Shen

When you’re a self-conscious teenager and the world seems poised against you, what’s the most expedient way to become “cool?” Turn the heat on someone else, of course. Don’t stand out—join the crowd. In “The Year of 13,” Lisa Shimotakahara’s protagonist narrator does just that. It’s a two-step method, though, as we’ll discover.

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Story Reviews

New Perspective. Commentary on Elana Shira Segal’s “Ole”

Pauline Shen

Where do we find meaning? Is it contained in the objects we keep? Or perhaps it appears in the repeated rituals of our lives. Maybe it’s buried with the memory of a person. Or, well, isn’t it in the nature of the relationship with that person instead? In her short fiction, “Ole,” writer Elana Shira Segal explores these questions and more. Perhaps there’s no secret at all—we’ve known the truth all along. We just need a reminder from an unexpected source.

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Story Reviews

What you seek… Commentary on Allison Kelly’s “Exit”

Pauline Shen

Meet Sunday, a woman who seems to have her life in order. Or perhaps there’s too much order. “To outsiders, her life seemed golden. On the inside, though, she was feeling more and more like one of those insects preserved in warm yellow amber and hung on museum walls…” and so Sunday embarks on a search for meaning, for contact, for something—anything.

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Story Reviews

Desensitization. Commentary on Deron Eckert’s “The Spaceman”

Pauline Shen

How to tell an audience about a horrific encounter? Do it with a nonchalant-style narrative that drops details before the reader like loose change. In Deron Eckert’s “The Spaceman,” the first-person narrative does just that, “Everyone makes a big to-do about me, like I’m in shock or something…” With such a light touch on a heavy subject, Eckert draws the scene out to its fullest capacity, pulling the reader in without hesitation.

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