Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2015.
Four Stars
A short review for a short story:
I don’t usually like reading short stories – unless it is a volume of interconnected stories – because I read so quickly, I feel like I’ve just begun when it’s all over. However, I wanted to give this one a try because I just picked up a novel by the same author, and thought this might inspire me to read it.
What I did like about this story was that it didn’t try to be anything more than a momentary glimpse into one man’s life. Short and sweet, we meet the narrator as he boards a plane on his way to a business meeting – he is about to give up his business, which he doesn’t seem to feel much attachment to, in exchange for financial gain to continue forging a marriage that he doesn’t seem too concerned with either. He claims not to want all of the trappings of an American lifestyle, including a home in the Hamptons, as he has come from a more austere British upbringing. So why is he working so hard to attain the lifestyle? We must question his reliability right from the start.
The narrator spends his trip not preparing for his meeting, but instead reflecting on a boy that was bullied in his English public school. He participates in a violent and disturbing dream of these past events, which may change all of his motivations in life. These changes remain ambiguous, and allow us all room to reflect on the past and how it has affected the way we live now.
I received this book from Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
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