tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3269645828546245860.post1403113147643580761..comments2024-03-26T19:49:12.341-04:00Comments on Workshop Heretic: Missing the winning dunk: "The Apartment" by T.C. BoyleJacob Weberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17591038654403487222noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3269645828546245860.post-3323974038743415942023-12-07T03:17:36.694-05:002023-12-07T03:17:36.694-05:00It is good to go into a story allowing it to speak...It is good to go into a story allowing it to speak to us on its own terms, but of course going in completely unbiased, with no aesthetic criteria at all, is the same as not reading critically. Reading completely without expectation would lead us to think all stories are equally good, which they are not. I think we can have criteria as long as we mostly develop those criteria inductively, meaning we are always reshaping our aesthetic principles based on new data. A story can always surprise us and make us change what we thought a story could be.<br /><br />In this case, I didn't know while I was reading that this was a "fictional" story based on real life, but I could feel that something was off. It didn't feel like a fairy tale. It felt like a story that was checking boxes off on a list. When I say the ending wasn't "what it was supposed to be," I mean it's not organic, not in line with its own self, not that it's not what I wished it would be. I mean the story doesn't feel whole, which, I'm sorry to say, is a bit of a priori aesthetic expectation I bring into reading a story with me. Jacob Weberhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17591038654403487222noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3269645828546245860.post-83601685665230326752023-12-06T18:02:11.694-05:002023-12-06T18:02:11.694-05:00A view of how we judge stories has been evolving f...A view of how we judge stories has been evolving for me for a while. We set up in our minds criteria we decide are proper or what we want to see, then we judge them according to that prescribed formula. I feel this is unfair to the author and to ourselves. We need to go into the story unbiased, without expectation, and experience it for what it is. <br /><br />I described this story elsewhere as "a sort of fairy tale retold", and well done. That's before I learned it was based on a (maybe) true episode. Even if so, it is exaggerated (a 90 year old living another 40 years), resembling a fairy tale. It may have been many decades since I was a kid, but every so often I like to visit my collection of fairy tale collections, many of the hundreds of tales I've not yet read. So I don't mind being surprised by such a thing in a BASS. <br /><br />You felt differently, one reason being the ending wasn't "a natural way for the story that's on the page to end."<br />So Boyle's story is something it wasn't "supposed to be"? Wouldn't it help if we stopped supposing? <br /><br />Of course, if you don't like fairy tales, fairy-nuff.<br />Eddienoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3269645828546245860.post-30520769325648899582022-05-31T20:45:31.624-04:002022-05-31T20:45:31.624-04:00I thought the story had hints of The Tontine, by T...I thought the story had hints of The Tontine, by Thomas Costain, a lavish story about a tontine, a form of gamble that is part lottery, part insurance. Though long, it is taut and suspenseful as the lives of the various characters involved play out. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3269645828546245860.post-88328995766983395622021-12-28T00:11:40.318-05:002021-12-28T00:11:40.318-05:00So glad you mentioned de Maupassant's writing ...So glad you mentioned de Maupassant's writing in general -- the irony, and loss after years of working hard, or, in this case, investing, with no returns for the effort. I, didn't realize it was based on a true story; but that doesn't diminish my enjoyment of the story -- and I will remember it!(Ms) Frankie Alexanderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17675928375353896833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3269645828546245860.post-87830283771210497312020-11-16T17:00:18.233-05:002020-11-16T17:00:18.233-05:00I only realized it was based on a true story becau...I only realized it was based on a true story because when I looked up what en viager was, one of the articles was about this woman. <br /><br />I'm oh-for-three on T.C. Boyle stories, I think, in terms of really connecting with them. Maybe I should look at his earlier work, to see what it was the made him such a big name to begin with. Jacob Weberhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17591038654403487222noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3269645828546245860.post-55010565565814754212020-11-16T09:47:09.518-05:002020-11-16T09:47:09.518-05:00I agree with both of you about Poe and O. Henry bu...I agree with both of you about Poe and O. Henry but I must bring in another famous story. From the very beginning of the situation I was thinking this is de Maupassant's Necklace and yes, it was. You probably are familiar with it, but if not, a woman borrows a necklace from a rich friend, loses it, buys a new one to replace it, but destroys her life to pay it off and at the end, aha! the friend reveals the necklace was only paste, and she ruined her life for nothing. Boyle is a highly skillful writer and I enjoyed the telling, but was disappointed to discover that my instant take on it was right. I sure hope there will be some terrific stories in this collection.Andrewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12432625819207462748noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3269645828546245860.post-8582556851834621132020-11-14T20:01:41.293-05:002020-11-14T20:01:41.293-05:00I'm with you on this - I was really enjoying e...I'm with you on this - I was really enjoying everything, but the end really felt like a letdown. Interesting that you say "The problem is that this isn't really a natural way for the story that's on the page to end" - yeah, maybe end with his death followed almost immediately by her death (she won, so she can die now). I do love the cat at the end, tying in with the whole "fond of him like a cat rubbing against your leg and giving you a 2500 check" but that could fit in.<br />Glad you mentioned O. Henry, I was thinking Poe (on pot instead of laudanum), but maybe O. Henry on pot too, before he started doing ironic endings. Also, I hadn't realized this was a true story. Maybe it would've worked better as a bio? Except, it's too embellished to be nonfiction (in my book anyway). <br />How do you judge a story that's really quite good but ends poorly? Obviously, McSweeney's liked it enough to take it as is - would they (or another litmag) have suggested an edit for a less established writer? Or are we being too critical? Or maybe is there something going on we don't see? Karen Carlsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18148246613451246487noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3269645828546245860.post-28075682987924392792020-11-12T08:52:14.371-05:002020-11-12T08:52:14.371-05:00I didn't know this story was based on a real e...I didn't know this story was based on a real event. I thought Boyle was going for an Edgar Allan Poe ending. Now I'm less impressed with the story because I thought Boyle had created this plot. Jim Harrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09953679196185650753noreply@blogger.com