Featured Stories

Evening Primrose

Seventh Grade: Short story by Gary SotoIt is always nice to find a story with a quirky, innovative storyline. John Collier’s Evening Primrose is in the form of a journal describing the experiences of a failed poet who gives up the outside world to spend the rest of his life living in a department store. He plans to hide out by day and wander the store at night collecting food and other necessities. To his surprise, he finds that a small community of like-minded people already inhabit the store. The only things they fear are discovery by the night watchman and the gruesome “Dark Men.”

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Don’t Look Now

Don't Look Now: Short story by Daphne du MaurierThis Daphne du Maurier story opens with a British couple dining in Venice. The holiday, through which they hope to rebuild their relationship following the death of their young daughter, takes an eerie turn when a fellow diner claims to be able to “see” the spirit of the dead girl sitting between them, and issues a grim warning that they should leave Venice immediately. When a family emergency calls them back home later that day, they take this as the meaning of the warning. The wife leaves the next morning; the husband never does. Themes: grief, the supernatural, scepticism, suspicion/paranoia.

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Just Before the War with the Eskimos

Just Before the War with the Eskimos: Short story by J. D. SalingerIn this coming-of-age story J. D. Salinger Salinger Ginnie, a fifteen-year-old schoolgirl’s outlook on life changes after visiting a controlling classmate’s home to collect money owed for shared cab fares. While waiting, she meets the girl’s older brother who appears bitter at the world after dropping out of college, being rejected for military service, and spurned in love by Ginnie’s sister. Later, she meets his effeminate, possibly gay best friend. After the visit, she no longer wants the money and asks if she can return that evening. Themes include alienation, rejection, resentment, connection, awakening.

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Lajwanti

Lajwanti: Short story by Rajinder Singh BediThanks to a 2006 tele-film, this has become Urdu writer Rajinder Singh Bedi’s signature story. Set in the violent upheaval of British India’s 1947 partition, it follows Sunderlal, a Hindu activist whose wife, Lajwanti, is abducted into Pakistan. The ironic descriptions of domestic life (Lajwanti considered vicious beatings from Sunderlal “normal”, and appears confused by the kind treatment of her Muslim captor) highlight traditional Indian attitudes towards women at the time. A second irony is that although Sunderlal campaigns for the rehabilitation of abducted women, he refuses to discuss Lajwanti’s experiences with her, preventing both from finding closure.

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Babette’s Feast

Babette's Feast: Short story by Isak DinesenThe major theme of this story by Isak Dinesen (aka Karen Blixen) is the transformative power of food. The lives of two aging Danish sisters, eight members of a dying religious sect, and a disillusioned French army general change when the sister’s maid, a refugee French revolutionary, wins the lottery and uses her winnings to prepare them a special meal. The meal brings the diners grace, forgiveness and the understanding that it is not sinful to enjoy life’s pleasures. The maid experiences a reinvigoration of her creative genius. Other themes include religious devotion, love, art and artistry, frugality, sacrifice, redemption.

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Don’t Cry

Don't Cry: Short story by Mary GaitskillIn this moving story by Mary Gaitskill, a grief and guilt stricken woman accompanies a friend to adopt a child in Ethiopia. Because the friend had chosen to adopt independently rather than through an agency, they are initially stonewalled by bureaucrats and find official orphanages closed to them. They gain the necessary approvals after a poverty-stricken mother unselfishly gives up her malnourished two-year-old son, only to find themselves temporarily caught up in a violent civil uprising. The protagonist gains almost as much from the trip as her friend. Themes include love, grief, betrayal, healing, sexuality, determination, poverty, violence.

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The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: Short story by F. Scott FitzgeraldThis F. Scott Fitzgerald story recounts the life of a man who grows “younger” by getting “older”. Themes include identity, social standing, and self-centeredness. The major theme, identity, is explored in the context of chronological age dictating expected behavior (e.g. “young” Benjamin obliges his father by constantly breaking things, whereas his “old” body would rather be smoking cigars). The people around Benjamin care more about protecting their reputations against gossip and scandal than they do about his condition. Finally, Benjamin proves himself as heartless as they are by hiding the problem and luring an unsuspecting woman into a doomed marriage.

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Where I’m Calling From

Where I'm Calling From: Short story by Raymond CarverThis Raymond Carver story describes how a friendship that develops between two strangers attending an alcohol drying-out retreat puts both on the road to recovery. The story’s message is that while acceptance that you have an alcohol problem is an important first step, true recovery begins when you acknowledge the damage it has caused to the lives of yourself and your loved ones, and are prepared to face up to your demons. The story also recognizes that, post-recovery, there is a high likelihood of a relapse. Themes: substance abuse, alienation, loneliness and the need for human connection, self-awareness, fear, hope.

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