Tag: Flash Fiction

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.”

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

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

Continue reading “Homemade. Commentary on Vicki Wilson’s “Jelly”” →
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.

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