T. Coraghessan Boyle “A Death in Kitchawank” (New Yorker 2010 January)

　　This is a story about two families: Miriam’s family and the Goldstein. It mainly consists of Miriam’s retrospect about her youth, meeting with Sid, her husband; her best friend, Marsha; her children; and Richie Spano, a weird young man; and her old life. The narrator interrupts the flow of the story several times in the form of “footnotes talk” to the incidents described in the story. This is a new technique. 　　The plot is neither so interesting nor exciting except for Miriam’s adventure in the canoe, but after reading the story, I felt as if I had read a long novel which described the whole personal history of Miriam. Especially the ending part referring to a turtle and a wet girl coming to her mother’s embrace shows that one’s life repeats itslef. It’s a sad and melancholy story because it tells that everything such as your spouse, family members, the community you live in, the way people live, change as you grow old. 　　The writing style is beautiful and poetic. The following is an excerpt from the part when Miriam had a desperate adventure in the canoe: 　　And her feet, her bare feet, are in the water now, the canoe hovering before her and　threatening to tip first one way and then the other until all at once she’s firmly planted in the seat and the paddle is working in her sure tight grip and the shore retreats behind her. 　　It’s a joy. A lark. And almost immediately she finds her rhythm, the motion—dip and rise and dip again—coming back to her as if it were ingrained in her muscle memory, and maybe it is, though it’s been more years than she can count. 　　The description is picturesque. The readers feel as if they were seeing a movie. A skillful author writes so that the reader can visualize the scene. In this sense Boyle is successful.