There is a strange feeling that comes off this story, it’s a hybrid between the moments you’re about to vomit and the seconds after you wake up from a nap. Carver dishes some of the most hallucinatory dialogue I’ve ever read, it’s all simple he said she said, but it’s riddled with paranoia and repetitiveness.
Carl and Mary have been invited to Helen and Jacks for a party, it’s a simple affair, but they have to pick up some “snacks” first. Carl just got a new pair of shoes which will bookend this story, and give us a much sturdier foundation to hold onto than Carver gives his characters. Carl is proud of his new shoes and Carver sets this little detail down for all of us to see, his wife Mary admires them too, but what’s in a pair of shoes?
This foursome has gotten together to get high, but they don’t call it that, they say they want to smoke the water pipe. The vernacular is outdated and unintentionally funny. When high, these two couples find exciting ways to talk about Popsicles, M&M’s and corn chips. Meanwhile Mary has been offered a job in Fairbanks which becomes a big joke, and the men think that they can find ways to benefit from the move financially which offers an even funnier aside.
Carver gets his characters high and then sets them loose on each other. Alaska sounds like a good idea as much as Algeria sounds like a good idea. Carver’s people are bored, drunk, lazy and enamored with their inebriated self’s. There isn’t much emotion in these people, which is just how I like it. Save for when Carl takes a bath and exchanges the line, “Home from the wars” with Mary as a shared sigh of relief that the work day is over and they can get fucked up. Mary runs her hand along his wet hairy knee, and it’s all the emotion the story needs.
-JR
Recent Comments