Last weekI interviewed the authorwho wrote the book , Where the God of Love hang Out . And in preparation , I ’d read the story itself . It ’s “ somnambulate , ” the first in a four - account oscillation by Amy Bloom , and the story is actually about a 19 - class - erstwhile boy who has a intimate encounter with his stepmother . It ’s the day after his father ’s funeral , and it ’s told from the perspective of the heartache - stricken widow woman , Julia . She yell while sing to her young boy , and then staggers through the hour in a daze .
After the funeral was over and the cold turkey and the glazed ham were demolished and some very good jazz was toy and some very good musicians went home drunk on bourbon poured in my husband ’s honor , it was just me , my female parent - in - jurisprudence , Ruth , and our two boys , Lionel junior from Lionel ’s second marriage , and our little boy , Buster .
It ’s an incredibly pitiful story , but it ’s also extremely well - write . ( Bloom has written stories for The New Yorker , and was nominated for both the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award . ) allot toWikipedia , Bloom also worked as a psychotherapist and created a series on The Lifetime connection about psychiatrist call “ State of Mind ” . Like a clinical psychologist , Bloom write a story which provides an fair answer to the question of how this could pass , and her tale does n’t flinch from its painful aftermath . “ I was already sorrier than I ’d ever been in my whole life , sorry enough for this liveliness and the next … ”
It ’s the stepmother ’s story , as she scramble to find a way to make things right – but first she must face up the fact that her boy want to continue the relationship .
“ No , honey . ”
I reached across the board but he shrugged me off , snaffle my Florida key and guide out the door …
And that ’s the condemnation which appears at the top of the Kindle ’s screen in Amazon ’s ad . That ’s what she ’s reading at the beach …
I sat for a long sentence , sipping , look out the sunlight move around the kitchen . When it was almost five , I took the keys from [ her husband ] Lionel ’s side of the dresser and drove his van to soccer camp . [ Her other , younger son ] Buster felt like being still , so we just held hands and heed to the wireless . I offered to take him to Burger King , go for the automatise scalawag and video games would be a good substitute for a fully present and competent female parent . He was glad and we toss off an hour and a half there . Three hours to bedtime .
We watched some video , sitting on the couch , his feet in my lap . Every few minutes , I ’d search at the clock on the mantel and then promise myself I would n’t look until the next commercial message . Every clock time I started to move , I ’d get tear in my eyes , so I concentrated on pose very still , waiting for clip to pass . Finally , I got Buster through his …
Amy Bloom in reality wrote that short account in 1993 , when she was 40 years old . Over the old age she write two more stories about the family – with the son render for the family Thanksgiving dinner with a lady friend 10 years later . It ’s told first from the son ’s perspective , and then from the mother ’s – but last year , Bloom produced a final story which give away how things finally terminate up . She ’d bring out the two Thanksgiving history in a 2000 aggregation , A unsighted valet Can See How Much I enjoy You . But it ’s inher newest collecting , write in January , where readers get the final word about Lionel and Julia .
I asked Amy Bloom if she would ever indite another floor about the character – if there would ever be more stories about the family . “ There might be , ” she replied . “ I ’m not sure . Not at this level . I ’m done with these characters now . I ’m on to this novel , and I ’m indisputable that it ’s – if the next generation ca-ca themselves love to me , I ’ll credibly go back and write a few more stories . ” I also asked what she thought of Amazon ’s choice of the story for their Kindle ad . “ I was n’t chagrined , ” she answer circumspectly ( reiterate “ I did n’t think this was embarrassing , ” when it came up again later ) .
And then I remembered the Pulitzer Prize - winning novelist Norman Mailer , who was once asked if he ’d had a darling of his account . He ’d said it was like being asked if he had a favorite among his children . I decided peradventure it was n’t the correct enquiry to ask the story ’s author . But 17 years after the original story was written , a page from it still flickers across millions of TV screens . And each sidereal day dozens of people then feel compelled to go into Google and type in this mysterious sentence .
“ I reached across the tabular array but he shrugged me off , grab my keys and heading out the room access … ”
David Cassel hump his Kindle . He ’s written about engineering for 15 years , with articles appear at Salon , Wired News , CNN , MSNBC and the Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition . His blog “ Me and My Kindle ” is updated day by day , and is alsoavailable on the Kindle .
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