Scan barcode
raoul_g's review
5.0
This is one of the best short stories I read in a long time. It really is short, but Stevens nonetheless is able to craft a beautifully sad world as seen from the eyes of the about ten years old Maggie.
The tone and the way the story is told should be familiar to any fan of Sufjan Stevens' music, as they resemble his songwriting very much. The whole story is very melancholic and touching and sometimes really funny, even if there is not much happening. It's just life with all its beautiful and also its tragic moments.
I think it would be best to give you one of the passages I really liked and which highlight Steven's talent as a writer:
"My mom goes [to church] on Wednesday and Sunday, but I don’t have to go if I don’t want to because she doesn’t want religion shoved down my throat. She says when I’m ready I’ll go on my own. She says when I’m ready to be a Christian woman, I can wear makeup. She says I’ll be a matron, like Queen Esther. Maybe I’ll be a Christian wife. Until then, I have free will, like everyone else, and I can make my own decisions and suffer the consequences.
My friend Judith thinks this is unfair, since her mom makes her go to mass, which doesn’t sound half bad. Judith says they have Nilla wafers and wine for communion. She says sometimes her mom gets drunk. I say 'no way!' and she says 'yeah way.' They are Catholic, and my mother says they are idol worshippers. My mother says you can’t pray to all those saints and still pray to God. There’s not enough love to go around, she says.
But my mother loves Sally Fields more than God. She has all her movies taped from Lifetime. My mother also loves Shirley MacLaine. She loves junk food too: Ring Dings, Ding Dongs, and Little Debbie’s. On bad days, she eats too much and gets sick. On worse days, my mother doesn’t say a word at all."
The tone and the way the story is told should be familiar to any fan of Sufjan Stevens' music, as they resemble his songwriting very much. The whole story is very melancholic and touching and sometimes really funny, even if there is not much happening. It's just life with all its beautiful and also its tragic moments.
I think it would be best to give you one of the passages I really liked and which highlight Steven's talent as a writer:
"My mom goes [to church] on Wednesday and Sunday, but I don’t have to go if I don’t want to because she doesn’t want religion shoved down my throat. She says when I’m ready I’ll go on my own. She says when I’m ready to be a Christian woman, I can wear makeup. She says I’ll be a matron, like Queen Esther. Maybe I’ll be a Christian wife. Until then, I have free will, like everyone else, and I can make my own decisions and suffer the consequences.
My friend Judith thinks this is unfair, since her mom makes her go to mass, which doesn’t sound half bad. Judith says they have Nilla wafers and wine for communion. She says sometimes her mom gets drunk. I say 'no way!' and she says 'yeah way.' They are Catholic, and my mother says they are idol worshippers. My mother says you can’t pray to all those saints and still pray to God. There’s not enough love to go around, she says.
But my mother loves Sally Fields more than God. She has all her movies taped from Lifetime. My mother also loves Shirley MacLaine. She loves junk food too: Ring Dings, Ding Dongs, and Little Debbie’s. On bad days, she eats too much and gets sick. On worse days, my mother doesn’t say a word at all."
More...