#343 The Guesthouse- Kirsten Valdez Quade
Jeff has traveled 2,000 miles to take care of his
grandmother’s funeral. “Jeff is awash in enervating, aching nostalgia, his
limbs thick with it.”
His mother is traveling and doesn’t want to ruin her trip
coming back for a funeral, so as usual the family duties fall to him. That’s as
it has always been in this family:
“Jeff and his Grandmother were the doers, the fix, and now
Jeff is alone. The fact is, he doesn’t know if he’ll survive the loss of her.”
His drug-reformed sister, the one living closest to the
grandmother seems untouched by the death, but wants Jeff not keep the house. As
it turns out their dead-beat father has been living in the guesthouse for a
while secretly from Jeff, his sister, and their mother. He has convinced the
grandmother that he is worthy of a second chance, and now he’s on his way to
convincing the rest of the family, all except for Jeff. Eventually all snakes
get vulnerable after feeding too much.
You know the writing is good when you start feeling the
anger of the narrator, and feel some satisfaction when Jeff finally lashes out.
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