Whoops - fell a little behind (what's new) on the Work of the Day - Have been reading them and jotting down notes, just not getting into the ol' Typepad account and posting about them.
The new issue of Bellevue Literary Review has just hit the stands and has a new short story, Biofeedback, from one of our favorite book columnists, David Milofsky (whose four novels will be reviewed here before 2007 begins).
"The appointment was at three and, as usual, Sylvia was running late." And so begins Biofeedback, and so begins the little tidbits that Milofsky drops in to early portions of the story, which help the reader understand Sylvia, the protagonist of the work, so much better.
These bits of information are dropped in throughout the story, and while they may seem randomly done, the order the hit the reader in is really an excellent continual foreshadowing by Milofsky. Best of all, there are no hammers hitting the reader, it is far from ham handed.
Sylvia is a doctor and Milofsky has given her an interesting trait for the reader's enjoyment - she tends to notice a single thing about each of them, that she considers rare amongst her patients. It's another trait he allows the reader in on - looking for a silver lining:
"Sylvia smiled. Intelligence was a rare among patients in her practice, as was humor."
And later:
"Sylvia smiled at the reference. Most of her patients had no idea who Hitchcock was but Mrs. Lindstrom watched televised reruns in the afternoon."
Biofeedback is an excellent story to read a few times if you're looking at strong character development.
Dan Wickett running late? I am happy to hear it. Welcome to my corner of the blogosphere, where we're always trying to "spring ahead" and never quite make it-- xxoo, tHB
Posted by: the happy booker | April 11, 2006 at 10:33 PM
I quiet enjoyed Milofsky's Biofeedback. Sylvia's character was well developed and very interesting. A nice read!
Posted by: Tooth Grinding | December 02, 2008 at 02:10 PM