2 Short Story Recommendations: “The Tunnel or News From Spain” and “A Family”
I am a writer and a reader. I enjoy sharing the works that I enjoy as sharing makes the world go ‘round. Thus, I’ve written a few music reviews and have recommended several books, but I realize I never really shared the short stories that have moved me. Over the next 3 weeks, I’ll be sharing 2 short story recommendations per week for a total of recommendations from my collection of collections and anthologies. The short story is such a powerful form, bringing us into a universe for just a short moment of time, and pulling us right back out. I particularly love collecting short story anthologies from used book stores, especially The Best American Short Stories. I encourage you to find the collections and read em yourself. Your local library, bookstore, and author could use the support. Your mind will be better for it.
These first two recommendations both tell the stories of characters navigating loss and relationships. In “The Tunnel…” a Rebecca deals with the bumpy ride that is her dying and undying mother, while “A Family” introduces us to Curtis who is searching for whatever may bring him closer to his friend-turned-brother Marvin. These characters are complex, and their stories compelling. They also feel like everyday people, with needs and desires, flaws and all (word to Beyonce). It wasn’t intentional starting this series with two stories about grief, but considering this season I’m in it feels appropriate.
If I were to suddenly get a billion dollars, aside from questioning the unethical sources of this money and seeking to redistribute in the most effective way, I would try to turn each of these into a 30-45 minute episodic anthology series using a sizable budget. Thus I’ve included fancasting for some of the characters in each story.
1. “The Tunnel or News From Spain” by Joan Wickersham
“The Tunnel…” introduces us to this complex character Rebecca, her ailing but durable mother Harriet, and a band of other people in their orbit from Rebecca’s distant and unmoved sister Cath to Rebecca’s special friend Ben. As Harriet wavers in health during the sunset of her life, Rebecca battles balancing care for her mother against other priorities in her life including managing her small business, her relationship, and the complicated history between her and her mother. The pacing of this story is expertly done, with Wickersham wasting not a word providing context for a scene or building the characters. Providing initial context for Cath and Rebecca’s dysfunctional relationship, Wickersham writes:
“Rebecca’s younger sister, Cath, disapproves of the relationship between Rebecca and Harriet. She thinks it’s unhealthily close. She says she is tired of giving Harriet inch and having her take miles. (Rebecca, who has never seen Cath give Harriet an inch finds this declaration both funny and infuriating.)”
You can just feel the eyeroll and tension in those sentences as she lays out how these three characters interact with each other. There are scenes that take pages and then there are scenes described in just three sentences. Anyone who knows anything about death and dying knows how quickly things can change and the pacing of the story seems to mimic this, especially towards the end. Spoiler alert: Harriet dies. But the events leading up to it make the story so intriguing. And it’s the small part after that feels devastating, especially for those of us who’ve experienced the finality that comes with loss.
This story about death, grief, and relationships personally touched me when I read it last year to the point that I felt mandated to reach out to the author and let her know how thankful I was for her writing it. After losing my grandmother in April, this story touched many parts of my own life from the chaos of figuring out who to call first, to figuring out how to navigate dysfunctional family relationships, to trying to figure out how to balance care for someone at the end stages of life while living your own –– it’s rough. Wickersham kindly responded to my email with gratitude and acknowledgement of my grandmother’s passing.
In my mind, Kathy Bates is Harriet. Toni Collette and Julia Dreyfus will play either Rebecca or Cath.
You can find this story in The Best American Short Stories 2013, edited by Elizabeth Strout. The story is also part of a collection of stories from Wickersham herself called “The News From Spain”.
2. “A Family” by Jamel Brinkley
Jamel Brinkley’s “A Family” is a treasure of a story centering grief, friendship, and connection. My friend Elijah bought me the book as a gift, and left pink stickies over specific stories alongside notes about why he highlighted them. I’ll discuss the other stories eventually, but the one I wanted to share for this group tells of Curtis Smith who’s battling grief over the death of his friend, and damn near brother, Marvin.
This is a story, that even with its brevity, forces you to sit in a scene taking in all the meaning from the dialogue and the action. As I read and envision this story in my mind, I see AV Rockwell’s “A Thousand and One” with the heartfelt writing and compelling characters. Curtis is a layered character, carefully skating on the line of creep, as he stalks Lena, the love of his departed friend, and their son Andre - trying to find any type of connection to Marvin. Brinkley writes so masterfully, the awkwardness of sex, the nature of a disaffected teenage boy, and the nature of what love really is.
After a lengthy buildup, just when we think we know where the story could be going, Brinkley reveals to us that Lena knew all along what’s been going on, and its from this point the story really picks up and gains ground. As if that twist wasn’t interesting enough, the anticlimactic meeting of the two - Curtis and Andre. As the scenes around their relationship develop, one can appreciate just how much intentionality, skill, and precision goes into crafting a story that take you to an entirely different place. The meeting of the two makes for a resolving of the plot outlined in the first few pages, but the larger story is even more satisfying and delightful - or thats how I felt upon finishing the last sentence.
In my mind, for this production I’d make, I’m fancasting Nicole Beharie as Lena and Shamier Anderson as Curtis.
You can find this story in The Best American Short Stories 2018, edited by Roxane Gay. Again, thank you Pond.
