#164 Broken Homes- William Trevor
An elderly woman is trying to live by herself in the home where
she lived with her husband and two sons, all three now deceased. She has
trouble hearing things, but manages to live a normal life.
“Mrs. Malby was happy. The tragedy in her life—the death of
her sons—was no longer a nightmare, and the time that had passed since her
husband’s death had allowed her to come to terms with being on her own. All she
wished for was to continue in these circumstances until she dies, and she did
not fear death.”
A man from the local progressive school stops in to offer
her a free kitchen renovation. It’s a program to give children from Broken
Homes a working opportunity. She is confused why the offer is presented to het,
but agrees to let them wash her kitchen walls.
When they show up, they are messy disrespectful, and
unsupervised. The reader feels the frustration of the woman, and her inability
to control a situation that is confusing and without an easy conclusion. After
an unsatisfactory conclusion for her, life goes back to normal. She is not
looking for change, she just remembers things as they were.
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