Friday, August 21, 2020

Beginning ~ with a note

"The note had been typed out, folded over two times, and pinned to the child's chest.  It could not be missed."
How to Pronounce Knife: Stories ~ by Souvankham Thammavongsa, 2020, stories
In the title story of this collection, a young girl brings a book home from school and asks her father to help her pronounce a tricky word, a simple exchange with unforgettable consequences.  The stories that make up this book focus on characters struggling to build lives in unfamiliar territory, or shuttling between idioms, cultures, and values.  A failed boxer discovers what it truly means to be a champion when he starts painting nails at his sister's salon.  A young woman tries to discern the invisible but immutable social hierarchies at a chicken processing plant.  A mother coaches her daughter in the challenging art of worm harvesting. The author interrogates what it means to make a living, to work, and to create meaning.

 ============================
Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts
Book Beginnings on Fridays.
Click this link for book beginnings
shared by other readers.
============================

1 comment:

Becki said...

Sounds like a good collection of interesting stories. I never think to look for short story collections, but I like most of the collections I've read. Thanks for sharing and enjoy your week :)