I love short stories for many reasons, but I particularly love them because I’ve discovered several of my favorite novelists by first reading one of their stories. Perhaps I would have discovered those writers at some point anyway, but reading their shorter work led me to them much earlier than would have otherwise been the case. That, I don’t doubt.
Along those lines, this morning I read a story by new-to-me author Kathleen Alcott called “Natural Light” in which she explores one’s relationship with a dead parent — and what can happen when new information about that parent is exposed long after their death. The story immediately opens with a hook that I could not resist:
I won’t tell you what my mother was doing in the photograph — or rather, what was being done to her — just that when I saw it for the first time, in the museum crowded with tourists, she’d been dead five years. It broke an explicit promise, the only (one) we keep with the deceased, which is that there will be no more contact, no new information.
The story’s narrator knew that her mother had lived in New York City for six months before she met the narrator’s future father. Her mother, however, had always brushed off any questions about that period in her life by literally waving them away when asked. Now, completely out of the blue, our unhappy narrator (who has obvious problems of her own) comes across photographic evidence that her mother had good reason to keep her secrets. The narrator’s heart breaks when she studies the filthy room in which the picture was taken and realizes just how low her mother had sunk in just a few short months in the big city.
She wants to know more — but, try as she does, no one really wants to help her.
Bottom Line: “Natural Light” left me as mystified as the narrator must have still felt at the end of this seventeen-page story. And that was probably the point. The story is disturbing and moody, even frustrating — and I think this mirrors the emotions that the narrator must have felt while trying to figure out her mother’s past. I get it. But as a reader, I can’t help wanting a little more from “Natural Light.” I prefer to have my mysteries solved before the last page is turned, and I’m still trying to figure out exactly what the picture portrayed. (I have a good guess, but I won’t speculate in fear of spoiling the story for others.)
Kathleen Alcott
“Natural Light” was originally published in 2018 in Zoetrope: All Story, vol. 22, no. 1. I read it from the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt collection The Best American Short Stories (2019). Alcott is the author of numerous short stories and at least three novels (I don’t see that she has published a novel since 2019.)
I always feel a bit miffed when I'm left hanging at the end of a story or novel. I like things to be wrapped up or at least to have an indication of which direction they are headed. This one sounds like it failed that test even those it was an interesting read.
ReplyDeleteI always end up feeling a bit cheated when that happens. At first, I think I must have missed something due to sloppy reading. That's bad enough. But when I go back and try to find what I may have missed, only to learn that I really didn't miss a thing, I get irritated because it doesn't feel as if the author has played fairly. I don't know why some writers thinks that open-ended stories add to the experience. For me, and almost everyone else I've talked about this with, it's just the opposite.
DeleteThat paragraph was an interesting hook for sure and, like you I do like some resolution/satisfaction at the end after spending time with a book or even a short story.
ReplyDeleteThere doesn't seem to be much of a point otherwise, does there, Diane? I just end up feeling so shortchanged.
DeleteI have read some short stories that leave the reader with no resolution, and sometimes that is OK with me, and other times it is disappointing. Sometimes I just consider that the ending is left up to the reader, but that doesn't seem like it would be the case here. Nevertheless, it sounds like a good story and one most readers could identify with at some level.
ReplyDeleteThis was an excellent review, Sam, I usually agonize over short story reviews and feel like I haven't told enough about the story in fear of revealing too much. It is a balancing act.
What irked me with this one, Tracy, is that I am still not sure if the photo captured the narrater's mother doing drugs...or porn. I suspect it was drugs, but would have appreciated the certainty to help me better judge the reaction to the photo of the daughter and her father.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment about the review itself. Short stories are almost impossible for me to review because I fear spoiling them more than anything else. And you just don't have a lot to work with, otherwise, do you?