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A review by nothingforpomegranted
Graham Greene by Percival Everett
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
I’m just on a roll with reading Percival Everett’s short stories, and I’m looking forward to exploring the rest of his backlist.
This story was surprising and heartbreaking and so beautiful. As Levar Burton explained, he is a master of pulling the wool over our eyes and then letting the plot unravel. A 102-year-old woman shows an engineer a photograph of her son who she hasn’t seen in at least fifty years. The search feels like a wild goose chase, especially because no one even knew that Roberta had a son. Rather, they think the photograph looks like Native American actor Graham Greene or perhaps another actor. The engineer goes through the town and eventually returns to the home of Roberta, defeated and dismayed to have to tell her that he did not succeed just before she dies. Upon his return, Roberta is grateful and promptly identifies him with her son. She strokes his hand, and he declined to correct her misimpression. However, the true twist of the story occurs when the engineer exits the room to Roberta’s caretakers. He updates them on her response, and met with their surprise upon discovering his mission, they inform him that Roberta’s son died when he was a boy. The story ends there, leaving the reader to wonder what happened to this young boy, how Roberta coped, and who precisely was in the photograph of a 40-something year old man.
This was beautiful written and sparse in just the right ways. Levar Burton’s narration was perfect, as always, and I look forward to reading more and listening to more!
This story was surprising and heartbreaking and so beautiful. As Levar Burton explained, he is a master of pulling the wool over our eyes and then letting the plot unravel. A 102-year-old woman shows an engineer a photograph of her son who she hasn’t seen in at least fifty years. The search feels like a wild goose chase, especially because no one even knew that Roberta had a son. Rather, they think the photograph looks like Native American actor Graham Greene or perhaps another actor. The engineer goes through the town and eventually returns to the home of Roberta, defeated and dismayed to have to tell her that he did not succeed just before she dies. Upon his return, Roberta is grateful and promptly identifies him with her son. She strokes his hand, and he declined to correct her misimpression. However, the true twist of the story occurs when the engineer exits the room to Roberta’s caretakers. He updates them on her response, and met with their surprise upon discovering his mission, they inform him that Roberta’s son died when he was a boy. The story ends there, leaving the reader to wonder what happened to this young boy, how Roberta coped, and who precisely was in the photograph of a 40-something year old man.
This was beautiful written and sparse in just the right ways. Levar Burton’s narration was perfect, as always, and I look forward to reading more and listening to more!