#40 Selling the General- Jennifer Egan
I found this story on a pretty interesting website called
fivechapters.com. This online literary
journal has been publishing a 5-chapter short story each week for almost 10
years. The project is run by the editor-in-chief
of Salon, David Daley, so we know we’re in good hands with these stories.
Jennifer Egan is a great Brooklyn based author that works in many writing
genres, including journalism. This is my first take at her short stories.
Dolly is a defamed, high-end publicist recently out of jail
trying to raise her 9-year old daughter. The entire world has turned their back
on her including her daughter who calls her only by “Dolly.” Broke, embarrassed
and on the brink of disaster, she is saved by a new client, a genocidal General
in need of some good press. The plan
includes new camera friendly attire, and some A-list arm candy (who also needs
some good press).
Themes abound in this one: redemption, faith, phoniness,
morality. The fake burns on the actress’
arm, the shop upstate that looks like Paris, the General’s Palace that he only
pretends to live in…everything in this story is hidden by something else. In
the end the big question is does protecting your family (the only real thing in
life) enough justification for also helping the devil?
Interesting story, seems like a lot of stuff crammed into 5
small chapters. I’m not sure if its under-developed over over-thought, but I
was left missing something, though not a big something.
Notable Passage: “They were phony. They lied constantly. And
when you got through all the phoniness and the lying, it turned out they were
mean.”
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