Wednesday, May 25, 2011

On "The Etiquette of Adultery" by Tara Laskowski (1140 words) ****

Written like portions of a how-to manual, the creatively wrought piece tells a story of longing. It's about a woman with a lover she can't bring to social functions and whose celebrations she can't share.

The other day I was on the phone with an acquaintance of mine, and she was bemoaning the fact that I didn't celebrate the major holidays. That makes it hard to date, she noted. I had to agree. Times past, I've known many a nice woman, but our core customs and values were not the same, and so a relationship beyond friendship wasn't really in the offing, even if we spent lots of time together, even if we claimed to love each other on some level.

Reading this story, I see that the situation of the adulteress is in some ways similar. Hooked to this man, she feels a desire for family, for shared times, for things she cannot have, and yet she spends hours with him, days, parts of her life. He's there for her, and he's not. Read the story here at Necessary Fiction.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello, Jon! I love Tara (I met her at Zoetrope) and I love her stories and this one too! But what really fascinates me here is your story about not being able to date because you do not celebrate holidays! That is amazing! It is one thing to have different values (one a devout Christian, one an atheist, or one who is bookish and quiet, with one who is a partier, something like that) but I am enchanted by the idea that someone would not be able to have a relationship because he or she does not celebrate Christmas for whatever reason. I think I am going to steal this for a story some day! Except maybe not about Christmas. Maybe someone is really passionate about Arbor Day and can not abide someone who is not! This is amazing! I would like to email you to ask you more about this, may I?
Zin

Short Story Reader said...

Hi Zin, Thanks for reading my blog. Yep--Tara's got a lot of great stuff out there; I find myself liking more and more of what she's doing. Her work will probably show up on here again soon. As for me--sure, you can write me if you'd like, regarding writing, books, religion, dating, whatever. The e-mail's on the profile: no1bag@gmail.com.