At the start of the story, I thought I was going to read a piece about Stuart Dybek's grandmother and was disappointed when the story took the turn toward a romantic involvement with Kate. The memories of his grandmother stirred my own memories. My grandmother would listen to her radio too. I remember she listened to a cheesy easy listening station that played Celion Dion 24/7, but occasionally snuck in Madonna’s Like A Virgin. She would make me the simplest most delicious boiled ham and mayo sandwich on soft sourdough bread that was served on recycled Styrofoam plates. When Dybek talked about his grandmother I envisioned myself in my grandmother’s kitchen. The countertop an olive green linoleum and the radio. I was inspired by Dybek’s perfect imagery and attention to detail. His ability to transport me to his memory while making it my own is a skill I work toward.
-Sarah
I was at first attracted to your posting because the heading featured "Ham sandwich" and I am hungry, but upon reading your actual post I agree with you, Sarah. Dybek really is able to transport his readers to a vision while at the same time inspiring readers to look inward at their own memories of an event. I thought of my grandmother, too.
ReplyDeleteYes, and I think "transport" is also a key term here because he's transporting himself to this other place and time, lost in his own thoughts, but in effect he's also transporting us as well. His memory becomes our memory.
ReplyDeletei agree with you, when i started reading this piece i also thought it was going to be a reminicing story, and was also bummed when it turned into a somewhat love story. but like you all have commented, Dybek does an amazing job that makes us think about our own experiences.
ReplyDeleteThe imagery of your own life mirroring the story was very interesting. I really enjoyed you giving us a snippet of your past, it helps the text in a way.
ReplyDeletei also agree with the images the dybek uses. in three odd pages we can find a little image there that connects with us and a part of our past - i think your way of doing this was very interesting!
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