#209 San Francisco- Amy Hempel

#209 San Francisco- Amy Hempel

Of all the authors I’ve read for this blog, and all the sizes, shapes, and forms of short stories highlighted here, Amy Hempel is the absolute best at the short vignette. Some of her stories, like this piece here is a quick two-page single stroke work of art. It can be read, and tossed off like it never happened, but there is meaning and emotion floating there, like a mint leaf in a cup of tea, subtle and lasting. Read, breath, close your eyes, and let it sink in.

The premise is simple, as San Francisco trembles, a mother dies, daughters squabble over her heirloom watch. But deeper underneath is what happens in those lives to get there, the implications of the watch, entitlements, recognition and true loss.

This won’t be on anybody’s list for greatest short stories because of what it is; a lingering, delicate thought. I read a Hempel story and it truly does linger with me all day. That is a rare talent. This is like the haiku of the short story world.

Rating: 9-8-10-7 Total= 34

#153 Tonight is a Favor to Holly- Amy Hempel

#153 Tonight is a Favor to Holly- Amy Hempel

This story is about complacency, indifference, and apathy. As the narrator prepares for a blind date she does not want to go on, she wonders about her directionless life:

“It takes me fifty-five minutes to drive one way, and I wish the commute was longer. I like radio personalities and I like to change lanes. And losing yourself on the freeway is like living at the beach—you’re not aware of lapsed time, and suddenly you’re there, where it was you were going.”

“My job fits right in, I do nothing, it pays nothing, but—you guessed it—it’s better than nothing. A sense of humor helps.”

She ponders the slow, lack of ambition life of living on a west coat beach. The fickle, flaky, shallow musings of someone trapped by the luring effects of the beauty and vastness of the ocean view.

“The people who live here, what you here them say is I’m supposed to, I’ll try, I would have.

There is no friction here.

It’s kind of a buoyant place.

What you forget, living here, is that just because you have stopped sinking doesn’t mean you’re not still underwater.”

But she has tried moving away, tried other lives, tried switching lanes. Only to move back west. Like the many who die each falling off the cliffs of Highway One, she continues to move West until it’s too late.

“The truth is, the beach is like excess weight. If we lost it, what would the excuse be then?"

Rating: 8-7-8-7 Total= 30