#125 Weekend- Amy Hempel
I was going to skip over some of the really short pieces in
these collections, but I decided not to. It’s important to see the whole short
fiction genre in its entirety. A 70-page stream of consciousness ramble from
David Foster Wallace next to a 3-page evening newspaper vignette from O. Henry
is a tough comparison, but why do they have to be compared. I can enjoy them
both.
Thus I give you Weekend by Amy Hempel. A short stage-setting
piece that begins her collection, Tumble Home. It’s just a glimpse of a lazy
summer outing. A softball game with no score and gin drinks splashing while
running to first. “The game was called on account of dogs.”
“The Hunter retrieved a foul ball and carried it off in the
direction of the river. The other dogs followed—barking, mutinous.”
This is such a delicate style of writing, you want to slow
down, and savor it like the last sip of lemonade while the sun goes down.
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