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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The Scar Behind the Story. Commentary on Brecht De Poortere’s “Mango Fly”
Brecht De Poortere’s “Mango Fly” is a quick and masterful telling of losing one’s innocence. Besides the troubling realism contained in the opening line itself, you know the plot spells trouble when our young protagonist-narrator sums-up the family’s relationship with character Nepo by saying, “[w]e trusted him because he was handsome and strong as a gun.” If the narrative were a roller-coaster, this is the point at the highest part of the track just before you begin to feel the car tip over the edge. It’s a wild ride, but keep your eyes open.
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