Daniel Griffin was brought to my attention thanks to Melanie who read Oberon Press' Coming Attractions 08 as one of her Canadian Book Challenge picks. She not only singled out Daniel Griffin's "Promise" as one of the highlights, but she was also nice enough to provide a link to an online copy.Thank-you Melanie. I really enjoyed this story. It's realistic, it's gritty, and as Melanie pointed out in her review, the ending packs a punch.
But it's not "reality show realistic," there's actually substance here, and I especially like the snapshots of essentially three different families. None of these fit the fifties "Leave It To Beaver" molds, but that's not to say they are all dysfunctional either (though clearly, at least one is).
I found myself doing a lot of introspection about my sibling, my sister, while reading Griffin's story. At some point we were closer than we are now, in a geographic sense and in an emotional sense. We're still on good terms with one another, but we just don't seem to have as much in common anymore, or else we just don't take the effort to discover those things like we used to. Unfortunately, I suspect our situations are typical. Sad really. My wife and I chose to have our own two kids close together and I think I'll be bothered if they don't keep their bond in their adult years.
Oh Daniel Griffin! You must work for Bell because I feel a long-distance call coming on.
(Did you write a post for Short Story Monday? If so, please leave a link in the comments below.)
3 comments:
I'm so glad you liked this, Griffin was a real find for me.
It made me think about sibling relationships as well; love your finish here -- long distance calls indeed!
This sounds like my kind of story! I've bookmarked it for later - thanks for including the link.
My post is at:
http://lakesidemusing.blogspot.com/2009/06/rosa-from-shawl-by-cynthia-ozick.html
This sounds wonderful! I just printed it off to read.
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