#113 Eating Dirt- Carolyn Cooke
This story appeared in the 1998 O. Henry Prize Stories
collection. This is my first time reading Cooke.
There isn’t much I find in this story to like. We find
ourselves at summer family picnic with two distinct sides of the family. They
appear to be poor, very poor, dirt eating poor. The visiting family is catty,
petty, judgmental, especially the grandma.
Grand has a new grandson, Troy, she hasn’t seen, noticed, or
cares to know about. When she finds out about him, she goes into a drunken
rage, having to be held back. She even goes so far as threatening to shoot
people. Her rant is so convincing people hide the frightened Troy, not sure
what kind of damage Grand is actually capable of.
Even to the very end, these characters are superficial and
the ones we know the most about become loathsome. There is no redemption or
moment of familial warmth. I’m not exactly sure why we needed to read about
these people.
Notable Passage: “I think my life was more real to me when I
was six than it is now.”
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