#mary robison

[loosejournal]

Mary Robison on humor in fiction

The joke may not be unappreciated, but it is undercherished. I'll admit that humor is paint that covers a lot of sins, but I think readers minimize the ability to mix it in. What I like is the element of surprise. It could be a dog crossing the street one morning with a string of wieners, which is something I've always wanted to see. That's my golden dream. I don't think I ever will. But you don't know—it could happen, and it could change you, and change your life.

[commonplacelit]

“We’re exhausted. It’s good-night time,” Allison said. “Don’t blow out the candles. I’ll put in new ones tomorrow.” In her bedroom, a few weeks earlier in her life than had been predicted, she began to die. “Don’t look at me if my wig comes off,” she told Clark. “Please.” Her pulse cords were fluttering under his fingers. She raised her knees and kicked away the comforter. She said something to Clark about the garage being locked. At the telephone, Clark had a clear view out back and down to the porch. He wanted to get drunk with his wife once more. He wanted to tell her, from the greater perspective he had, that to own only a little talent, like his, was an awful, plaguing thing; that being only a little special meant you expected too much, most of the time, and like yourself too little. He wanted to assure her that she had missed nothing. Clark was speaking into the phone now. He watched the jack-o’-lanterns. The jack-o’-lanterns watched him.

"Yours," by Mary Robison.

[evilsheetz]

read Why Did I Ever by Mary Robison

here are some blurbs that struck me for some reason or another

[eva248]

Lecturas de diciembre. Tercera semana

Lecturas de diciembre. Tercera semana

Un lugar desconocido / Seicho Matsumoto. Libros del Asteroide, 2021 Durante un viaje de negocios en Kobe, Tsuneo Asai recibe la noticia de que su esposa Eiko ha fallecido de un infarto. Dado que sufría una enfermedad coronaria, la causa de la muerte no resulta tan extraña como el lugar donde ocurrió: un apartado barrio residencial de Tokio del que ella nunca le había hablado y en el que abundan…

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[spacetownhigh]

last in the mary robison trilogy. a break from her short stories - it's a collection of hundreds of tiny notecard length "chapters" that make up a fragmented whole. a lot of it reads like stand up.  it's cool how in the beginning mary robison wrote these minimalist slice of life short stories and then came back years later to completely explode the form into hundreds of little shards to pick up and figure out. sharp. funny. sad. 

[spacetownhigh]

[besmirchthis]

also, there’s a section called “Sometimes I Find My Place in Selves I Shouldn’t Be,” and i fucking love that.

[besmirchthis]

I now know that nothing I planned is going to happen. Whatever it was I planned. Gum! I meant to buy gum. Why was that so impossible?

Mary Robison, Why Did I Ever