Justin I have to say I like this one and yet have a hard time making sense of it. Maybe that's the point--Gabe's frustrated drunken destruction doesn't make sense. Or am I being dense?
Thanks for the comment and kind words, Jim! You’re not being dense at all. I probably just missed the mark. I was thinking maybe something about the relationship or the family itself is broken. Maybe Gabe is an alcoholic, quick to anger - and this causes the crazy outburst? That was pretty much my train of thought.
That's pretty much what I went with. The incoherence brought on by the alcoholism. I read it again and I think you're right on that mark. I think I was off in that the expectations I brought to the story overwrote what I was reading. Broken has a lot of real-world truth in it than story resolution. As I read in a flash fiction text once, in defense of vignettes: "Life doesn't contain plot."
Shifting gears, I read Arena Roja last night. That's a good story and definitely covers terrain that westerns don't usually go into. Bravo. I don't know if you ever read Elmore Leonard, but he has a collection of Western short stories that Arena Roja
reminded me of--he went places Westerns didn't usually go. "The Tonto Woman" and "Hurrah For Captain Early" in particular stand out in my mind as tales that broke the mold.
Makes sense. I love the quote! I guess I tried to land somewhere in that realm without giving it a heck of a lot of thought. Thank you for the feedback and for giving me a pretty cool lens to look at my story with!
That’s awesome! Thanks for giving Arena Roja a read. It means a lot to me. The dark/gritty aspect of the story came out of nowhere as I was writing. But as I pursued that particular avenue, it’s really what propelled the story forward and made it work. I had a hell of a lot of fun writing Arena Roja.
I’ve never read anything by Leonard, but I’ll have to check out his stories!
Thanks again for the reads, feedback, and motivation, Jim!
Not a great role model, Dad. 😳
Not at all!
Justin I have to say I like this one and yet have a hard time making sense of it. Maybe that's the point--Gabe's frustrated drunken destruction doesn't make sense. Or am I being dense?
Thanks for the comment and kind words, Jim! You’re not being dense at all. I probably just missed the mark. I was thinking maybe something about the relationship or the family itself is broken. Maybe Gabe is an alcoholic, quick to anger - and this causes the crazy outburst? That was pretty much my train of thought.
That's pretty much what I went with. The incoherence brought on by the alcoholism. I read it again and I think you're right on that mark. I think I was off in that the expectations I brought to the story overwrote what I was reading. Broken has a lot of real-world truth in it than story resolution. As I read in a flash fiction text once, in defense of vignettes: "Life doesn't contain plot."
Shifting gears, I read Arena Roja last night. That's a good story and definitely covers terrain that westerns don't usually go into. Bravo. I don't know if you ever read Elmore Leonard, but he has a collection of Western short stories that Arena Roja
reminded me of--he went places Westerns didn't usually go. "The Tonto Woman" and "Hurrah For Captain Early" in particular stand out in my mind as tales that broke the mold.
Makes sense. I love the quote! I guess I tried to land somewhere in that realm without giving it a heck of a lot of thought. Thank you for the feedback and for giving me a pretty cool lens to look at my story with!
That’s awesome! Thanks for giving Arena Roja a read. It means a lot to me. The dark/gritty aspect of the story came out of nowhere as I was writing. But as I pursued that particular avenue, it’s really what propelled the story forward and made it work. I had a hell of a lot of fun writing Arena Roja.
I’ve never read anything by Leonard, but I’ll have to check out his stories!
Thanks again for the reads, feedback, and motivation, Jim!