short stories (Shiloh, Death by Landscape, Alive and Beautiful Monsters)

4/16/2013

When I started reading these short stories, I saw some resemblance to Cane and TTTC, because they are made-up stories that could have happened. In "Shiloh", you can see a relationship dwindling due to losing a child and/or not having the same feelings about their significant other. In "Alive", I saw resemblances to a person in my life who had Leukemia and he couldn't do things wanted to do, like play his snare drum in the Memorial Day Parade with his high school marching band. This story hit home and it was very hard for me to read because some of the events in this story do happen in reality.
In "Beautiful Monsters", the creative style of having this be way in the future and there is a lack of parents and "childhood" activities. In "Death by Landscape", I was very surprised by the influence Lucy had on the narrator of the story. Some other short stories that I have read, don't really a moral or a person that influences someone and I loved that about this story.

Hannah Vollmer

4/16/2013 09:32:03 am

I also read Alive and Beautiful Monsters. I've never known anyone personally that was my age and had cancer so I couldn't exactly relate to the story in the way that you did, and I don't have any siblings, but I still feel like I am able to put myself in Dylan's shoes and know what he is feeling. I've seen the struggle between siblings for attention in some of my childhood friends and their families and I know how hard it must be for Dylan, especially at his age. He feels like his parents only care about his brother, but at the same time he realizes that his brother needs that attention and he's probably scared of losing him. It seems while reading that Dylan is a little selfish, and he wasn't my favorite character, but I feel like this situation is very realistic for a family dealing with a sick child. As for Beautiful Monsters, I also agree that the futuristic setting is the main creative element of the story and I thought it was done really well.

Elizabeth Harris

4/16/2013 11:16:27 am

I thought it was interesting that there were no parents, I can't imagine a society without parents. Are there parents when they are actually like really little like babies? Do they grow up in like a hospital for awhile? I couldn't figure it out for awhile that they were kids. I still can't figure out what I think that they look like since they are kids that are old. Do they look like kids?

Celia Rasmussen

4/17/2013 10:27:01 am

I read Beautiful Monsters as well. In response to Elizabeth, I was pretty confused about the whole age thing. Maybe they were raised by fellow "children" (who were actually older)? Then again, maybe people still aged normally during this time, or maybe not. Like I said on Brittany's page, it's all left to our imagination. We can take it in whatever direction we want. You can keep asking questions, or you can come up with the answers yourself. :)

Mindy Hartings

4/18/2013 03:45:29 am

I completely agree with your comments on "Beautiful Monsters." I also found it very interesting that they didn't have actual names, just boy and girl. My favorite part was when the girl was surprised that the man showed the passage of years with his wrinkled skin.

short stories (Shiloh, Death by Landscape, Alive and Beautiful Monsters)

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