Tuesday, July 6, 2010

"Jumping Jacks" from The Surf Guru by Doug Dorst

Hmmmm. Now we have something interesting.

Here Dorst may be at his best. This two and a half page story is contained, well-written, and engulfs the reader. Dorst manages to have the language pull and push the reader into emotions felt by the main character without much set-up which is quite the feat.

But, then I don't quite follow the penultimate paragraph so I'm knocked out of the story by having to re-read a few times. And I still don't quite get it. I have a few theories but none are supported entirely by the text. While having theories about what happens is great and I'm not advocating an obvious text, that one paragraph just doesn't fit with the rest. It's a bulwark in an otherwise fast-paced, emotionally charged narrative and because of it the story is derailed.

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