In this story, which is surprising, funny and sad, in turns, Robert, a teenager, has made friends with Gus, a boy who spends most of his time sitting under the town's huge live oak tree. Gus is black and Robert's white mother secretly disapproves of this friendship but considers herself too liberal to act on her fear. And they are up to no good, selling dope and using it themselves. This makes it sound like it's a cautionary or scary story. But mostly it is not either and it ends quite dramatically or oddly depending on how much latitude you give Ms. Gilchrist.
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY
10 comments:
And Happy Ash Wed. for those repenting...and thanks for the bad news...I'd missed this till now. I'm not sure the obit should be agreeing with and furthering her self-diminishment as much as it does; I like what you've written here better.
Sorry to hear of her death. This story sounds like an interesting way to explore friendship as well was social norms like race relations. It's a good legacy, and I'm glad you featured this one.
I hadn't seen that she died. I know I read a couple of her collections - the Rhoda Manning and Nora Jane books.
After reading the FAMILY MARKOWITZ book by Allegra Goodman, I went back and got her earlier collection, TOTAL IMMERSION. I was surprised to see she was only 21 when it was published, a precocious talent indeed. And I was further surprised to see (so far) two Markowitz family stories included, both of which would easily fit into the later book of stories.
Jeff: I have read KATERSKILL FALLS, which was also a movie and INTUITION and maybe some of the Markowitz stories. Good point, Margot. I downloaded the stories so I will have to see if they are what I remembered or more minor.
The collections I have read, DRUNK WITH LOVE and the NBA-winner VICTORY OVER JAPAN, along with what I've read of THE CABAL & OS, don't lean slight nor shallow. However much NYT's Rossiter might seek to disagree.
As usual, I am very curious about this author. The collection that really appeals to me is RHODA: A LIFE IN STORIES.
I remember reading all of her books as they were published. She was probably more light-weight than some of the more revered writers but I enjoyed her slight quirkiness and sense of humor.
I've read Ellen Gilchrist over the years and enjoyed her work. You're right, she could be very humorous.
I would much rather read your work or Ellen Gilchrist's than, say, that of Jonathan Safran Foer, Jonathan Franzen, B. E. Ellis, or that of any number of people that the obituarist might not go out of his way to insult, or perhaps he would. This particular set (let's add John Irving) tend toward the shallow if not lightweight, while often being credited for going the other way. Nice work if you can fake it.
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