Four stories and four pieces titled Road Trips. I have read two of the road trip pieces so far.
In one "In the Beforetime," the author (Yiyun Li) contrasts two trips to author's homes (Larkin and Dickinson) in two countries. A family on the train on the way to Hull (Larkin) is not abiding by the "quiet carriage" rules. The second trip never happens because life intervenes with his plan. He comes to the conclusion the family's noise was not very important given the ending of the second trip. Would this satisfy an editor looking for a short story? He (She) probably would have had a slightly more definite ending. But maybe not. I am not even totally sure this isn't a short story.
"Night Driving" (Uwem Akpan) details a Nigerian man's traffic stop outside Vegas. Of course, we are very worried about this one turning out badly too. The cop is clearly suspicious the car is stolen because it is a Saab and the plates are out of state. The Nigerian man is asked to come to the rear of the car. I will leave it there. Both stories are distinguished by the writing more than their content.
Most of the stories feature road trips or travel, which makes sense for a summer issue.
11 comments:
I used to be a subscriber to THE NEW YORKER, but I didn't renew a few years ago. Just too much to read. And, I seemed to just be reading the cartoons...
Some NEW YORKER stories do emphasize style over content...a bit too many for my tastes, perhaps.
Waiting for the day when they issue a PULP fiction issue...
I never read the cartoons, strange isn't it? Mostly I read the reviews and some articles. I don't read the fiction as much as I used to.
I
ve never read The New Yorker per se, though I have read many of their authors and a lot of their collections.
I'm reading the COLLECTED SHORT STORIES of Jean Rhys. The first group was published in 1927, before any of her novels. They are quite short - 2 to 5 pages for the most part - and little vignettes set in Paris or London.
Also reading the GOLDEN AGE MEGAPACK collection by David Alexander. Most of these were published in Manhunt in the mid-1950s and some are quite nasty.
This is one you reviewed recently, MENDOCINO AND OTHER STORIES by Ann Packer The title story, which was in The New Yorker, is about a woman driving from Los Angeles to visit her brother and his girlfriend on the tenth anniversary of their violent father's suicide. The siblings used to be close but she seems to be being extra careful about what she says now, so not to offend either of them, though she seems doubtful about the girlfriend. The subject of the father's death does come up, as seems inevitable. I like her writing. It's always good to find a new writer.
I agree about finding a new writer.
I have only read the Deep Saragasso Sea by Rhys. Will look for the shorts.
I've meant to read WIDE SARGASSO SEA for more than two decades, and haven't...but love the (later) Rhys short fiction I've read. I was about to go on a date with a woman with the same name as a famous model (which she found slightly annoying), and we had a conversation in which she expressed visceral disgust with how sexually explicit the putative film adaptation of that novel was. I probably should've taken that, even given how bad the film was, as an indication that things might not go as well as might be hoped. This might've added a mild subconscious block to picking up the novel finally.
MANHUNT, with its attempt to dish up as much as close to Mickey Spillane in every issue as it could, really was about as nihilist as any magazine ever published in the US, and that in its early good (or "good"?) days...
Did ARCHIE comics permanently put you off cartoons, Patti?
I am not sure why. I don't even see them when I page through it.
Both stories sound good, interesting, worth reading. Sometimes I am happy with a story just for the writing style, sometimes not.
I would love to subscribe to the New Yorker, but it is too expensive since I know I would fall behind in reading it. But I would like to have a subscription because of the access to the archived stories.
I wonder if you could subscribe online only for less. Then you would have access to the archives. I never have paid the full price. We always got a educator's discount.
Buy short-term dollar-a-week subs, and one gets the web access. I've been meaning to get around to doing so again with HARPER'S. Have enjoyed reading various archived stories in TNY during my subs.
You do pay less for digital only, and I may consider that. Right now I have some problems with my vision when using the computer so reading things online is problematic.
Todd's ideas for the short term bargains would be a way to try out a subscription for a while and see if I would put it to enough use.
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