#540 Malaria- Michael Byers

#540 Malaria- Michael Byers

Orlando was living an OK life in college. He had a girlfriend that he could not imagine living without. “I wasn’t headed anywhere on any fast track, that was plain even then, and I didn’t have any kind of natural flair, but I had Nora, and it felt to me like a fair exchange.”

When he went to visit her parents he met Nora’s brother, George. After playing tennis together, George told Orlando that he had Malaria. It was an obvious lie and it stuck in Orlando’s head. He didn’t tell Nora and life went on. Later that year George began showing signs of mental instability. He felt guilty about not mentioning the Malaria lie, thinking it might have been an early warning sign. It wasn’t, it had nothing to do with him or what lie he was told.

As Orlando and Nora broke up, and things went forward, he learned about creating or finding his own identity. “I think this summer was also the period when I first struck on the idea of ambition, that I could be something in particular, rather than just myself in general.”

All this time, however, he couldn’t stop thinking about George. This one person, with one moment taking up an unfair amount of importance to Orlando, trying to find meaning where none existed.

Rating: 7-8-7-7 Total= 29

#284 The Thing About Cassandra- Neil Gaiman

#284 The Thing About Cassandra- Neil Gaiman

It’s funny how themes emerge from stories and books you read at the same time. You see a theme in one, and then, bam…the next book you read there it is again. Mostly it's that your eyes are open to that theme, the taste is still on your tongue, but sometimes its very cool coincidence.

A few days ago I read Kavita Through Glass, where we spent the whole story following along with a narrator’s perspective only to be shown at the end that the important view was through the other character’s eyes. This story is very much the same.

Stuart Innes is a model and an artist. He’s single and doesn’t seem to have the drive to find himself a woman. Suddenly he hears rumors that his first girlfriend, Cassandra has reappeared, and has been looking for him. She was perfect, the one all others were judged against…the only problem is that he made her up. So who is this woman then, well…that’s where the fun is.

We limit ourselves sometime by the fantasies we create, and we are defined by the lies we tell. That sounds like a good summary for this story, but really its just a good story, no need to over think it.

Notable Passage: “People think they’re buying the art, but really, they’re buying the story.”

Rating: 9-10-10-9 Total=38

#179 The Boy on the Couch- Jabari Asim

#179 The Boy on the Couch- Jabari Asim

It’s tough being a 9 year old boy. Have to battle with older brothers, neighborhood bullies, parents always telling you what to do, and now you have your first crush? Life is complicated.

“Your grandma likes to say that there are no boys under this roof, but I’ll tell you this: there’s only one man and he ain’t you.”

Unfortunately for Crispus, the girl he had decided to have a crush on was playing with his fears, telling him that there was a ghost in his house. More specifically, there was a ghost of a boy sitting on his living room couch. That sent his whole world spinning.

“Then I went to my room, sat on my bed, and considered the situation. I didn’t like to visit the third floor because it was scary up there. I didn’t like to go to the basement by myself because it was scary down there. I had been avoiding the couch for several days because of the scary dents in the cushion. I was running out of places to cower.”

His mind, like his almost girlfriend, like his older brothers, start to play tricks on him. Life is rough for a 9 year-old boy.

Notable Passage: “I caught a whiff of her as she entered the kitchen, and she smelled delicious, just like the pie. She was wasting her time with Avon perfume. If she could bottle that stuff, she’d be a millionaire.”

Rating: 7-7-7-8 Total= 29