Short Story Monday

Well, here goes....my first short story post. I'll preface it by saying that ever since high school, I've steered clear of short stories. They seem to demand more of the reader and, often, I've felt like I'm not up to the task. Recently, however, two collections of short stories have found their way into my reading. Jhumpa Lahiri's Unaccustomed Earth (review to be posted this week) and Elizabeth Strout's Olive Kitteridge (my review and book club meeting posted earlier) were both outstanding and have me re-thinking my stance on short stories.

The Norton Book of American Short Stories has been on my bookshelf for a few months now. Twin A used it for her English class short story unit and told me I should take a look... "There are some really good stories in there, Mom."

As a test, I decided to choose a "short" short story by an author that is familiar to me. At just three pages, "The Story of An Hour" by Kate Chopin fit my criteria. It is about a woman who receives word of her husband's death in a train accident and chronicles her emotional state for the following hour. The story was written in 1894, five years before The Awakening was published, and is obviously the work of the same author. It (very) briefly explores a woman's sense of identity as it relates to her marriage .

"She knew that she would weep again when she saw the kind, tender hands
folded in death; the face that had never looked save with love upon her, fixed
and gray and dead. But she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of
years to come that would belong to her absolutely. And she opened and spread her
arms out to them in welcome."

Saying more will spoil the story, but you can find it here and read it for yourself in just a couple of minutes.