Narrative design Book

Actual rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

The true intention of Narrative Design was a craft book for my Fiction Workshop class, and despite learning some new terminology, discovering some great short stories, and developing a reader appreciation for the genre and what the unconscious mind can do in tandem with the conscious, I didn't get much out of this.

Linear Design:

"Depth Charge" by Craig Bernardini-1 out of 5 stars: So I still don't know what exactly this story was about? A white college student that's newly 21 and a black bartender talk about life, and then the student attempts to kill himself by driving his car into the river and drowning. That's it. There was also the bartender kissing a random drunk girl, and I'll just remain swimming in a sea of confusion.

"A Wife of Nashville" by Peter Taylor-2 out of 5 stars: This story definitely got better as it continued, because it was rather slow at the start and chock-full of exposition. The writing felt overly detailed and specific, and I wasn't sure exactly what Taylor was trying to accomplish painting a portrait of the nannies of the Lovell family, all women of color, contrasted against the matriarch of the family, a white woman. But I feel like the story was trying to show that no matter who we are, we are all human. Even though the maids faced nasty discrimination from the family itself, Helen Ruth, Mrs. Lovell, recognized how steadfast the maids were, how one stuck through her brief separation with her husband. They're stronger than she thought, and she believes they deserve better, even if her husband and sons will never understand it.

"Daisy's Valentine" by Mary Gaitskill-4 out of 5 stars: This was an odd short story, but it was one that was morbidly fascinating. Joey, a bookstore employee, cheats on his girlfriend with a woman named Daisy, who is also cheating on her boyfriend, and it all starts with a delayed Valentine's Day card ripped from a picture book. The story begins with the unsettling realization that this is going to ruin Joey's life, and he couldn't care less. From there, we learn about the bookstore, Joey's drug addiction with his girlfriend, and his hero syndrome born out of his unhappy childhood. All of it is told in the kind of detached third person limited narration that unsettles but thrills. Some of the terminology is incredibly outdated in modern times, and the bookstore slice-of-life moments didn't feel completely necessary to me, but "Daisy's Valentine" struck a malicious chord that I feel could translate into a harrowing film, either short or long.

Also, I'll be curious to hear if my classmates interpreted Joey as neurodivergent. His behavior and dialogue hint at possible rep lens exploration, but nothing was set in stone within the text.

"Hear That Long Train Moan" by Percival Everett-2 out of 5 stars: Although intriguing, this short story about two old men smoking and fretting over model trains didn't really go anywhere for me.

"Oh, Man Alive" by Holden Brooks-1 out of 5 stars: This was a weird story that felt overwritten, with a lot of narrative being told to a reader instead of showing it. A frantic father doesn't have a therapy session and meets his crying son at a train station, hyper-aware of his role in destroying his marriage and his depression. It's not pleasant, and I wish Brooks hadn't written half of the sentences he did because they were too far out there for me. I don't want to see a section about a rabbit's teats, thank you.

"The Sky Is Gray" by Ernest J. Gaines-3.5 out of 5 stars: A story focused on a young black boy and his mother visiting the dentist amidst a sleet-filled day in the small town of Bayonne during the time of segregation in the South, Gaines's short story may take a while to get going with its nonlinear flashback jumps at the beginning, but it captures a strong voice in James, the protagonist, and it's a compelling narrative that is so much more than just about a toothache.

Modular Design:

"Signs of Life" by Miriam Kuznets-4 out of 5 stars: This was a really compelling story that left more questions than answers, but in this case, it was a good thing. A woman and a man run into each other at the movies, where they screen the same old stories. The woman, Nadine, was struck by lightning as a teenager and seems to be a slippery teacher. The man, Michael, has lingered in her mind ever since their affair. There's some confusion as to whether a homeless man and Nadine have a connection, not to mention where this all takes place in a timeline, but that was Kuznets' point, and she delivered. Truly a spot-on story about the signs of life you expect to find of a person until you realize you were merely a blip in the continuum, a secret kept under wraps.

"Lizzie, Annie, and Rosie's Rescue of Me with Blue Cake" by Carolyn Chute-1 out of 5 stars: This is an excerpt from a novel (The Beans of Egypt, Maine), but I have no interest in checking out the source book. This story made me uncomfortable from start to finish, from a father and a daughter's pseudo-incestual relationship to children interacting with an almost dead body to soap being shoved in a mouth to a ghastly blue birthday cake with sand on the icing. No thanks.

"The Child Downstairs" by Marcia Golub-5 out of 5 stars: Okay, this was really great. This story followed a woman named Renie involved in a double narrative, one present and one past. The former focuses on her noting on the noisiness of a child living downstairs with his family, crying without an audible prompt. The latter is a hypothetical musing that turns out to be the truth: Renie is happily married but wants to get pregnant yet feels like she's going to have an affair. Neither ends up happening despite a pregnancy and a younger suitor. It's funny yet bleak, sad but enjoyable.

"Red Hands" by William T. Vollmann-3 out of 5 stars: This story was a little confusing, but I liked its writing despite how much of a ramble it was at times. An unnamed narrator relays two different stories of men they interviewed. One is Seamus (not his real name, the narrator wryly notes), a soldier who was treated horribly as a kid for being Catholic and escaped war-torn England for the US. The other man is Oliver (again, not his real name), an experimenter on mice. The narrator isn't entirely sure if they connect 100%, but the lives of Oliver and Seamus have left them with red hands, Seamus due to bombing a department store while he was working in some field (I thought it was military, but turns out he's a terrorist) and Oliver for all his killing of mice.

"Comic Strip" by George Garrett-4 out of 5 stars: This was definitely an intriguing short story. Despite having protagonists that didn't seem interconnected, the rich writing and circumstances made up for it. Miss A., Professor B., and Captain G. all live their own lives, the first as a hospital worker, the second as a teacher of history, and the third as an army captain post the ending of a war, at least on paper. However, circumstances are about to change, all because of witnessing men interact on a train, discovering secrets about ancestors, and becoming a prisoner of war despite the fact that everything's supposed to be done.

"Little Red" by Gilmore Tamny-3 out of 5 stars: This was an intriguing metafictional retelling of the classic fairytale, the author inserting her own commentary within a bleak and desolate narrative that is rewritten several times to comment on the pervertedness of the wolf, the horror movie music playing as soon as Little Red Riding Hood walks up the steps to her grandmother's front door, the deliciousness of green pepper, and a fleeting idea of Little Red saving herself only to have it scrapped at the last minute in favor of a Mary Kay representative performing the Heimlich. It's a very wacky and scattered story, but it does have its charm to it.