What do you think?
Rate this book
The Commemerative
In this short story by bestselling author Myla Goldberg (originally published in Harper's magazine), an unemployed artist lands a freelance job that gives him a strange brand of influence over the population of a distant island nation and places him in an equally strange relationship with the woman who hires him.
- GenresFiction
First published April 25, 2000
25 people want to read
About the author
Myla Goldberg
28 books385 followersMyla Goldberg is the bestselling author of Bee Season, Wickett's Remedy, and The False Friendas well as a children's book, Catching the Moon.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 26, 2014
An artist must never deny his heart's desire.
Ernie is an illustrator who draws puppies, toys and smiling children for a magazine frequently seen in doctors' and dentists' offices. He's hoping for a gig as a New Yorker "doodler" when an ex-coworker tells him about a job designing postage stamps.
The universality of postage stamps. The timelessness. The millions upon millions of tongues, licking.
He is disappointed to learn that the stamps are meant for other countries, many of which he has never heard of, but finds himself captivated by Gurdna, the exotic woman who interviews him for the job.
Thus begins Ernie's quest - to please a woman through his artwork, AND through his actions.
This was a smart and affecting short story that sent me looking for a collection of Goldberg's short works, but there appears to be none in existence. Someone remedy this, please.
Ernie is an illustrator who draws puppies, toys and smiling children for a magazine frequently seen in doctors' and dentists' offices. He's hoping for a gig as a New Yorker "doodler" when an ex-coworker tells him about a job designing postage stamps.
The universality of postage stamps. The timelessness. The millions upon millions of tongues, licking.
He is disappointed to learn that the stamps are meant for other countries, many of which he has never heard of, but finds himself captivated by Gurdna, the exotic woman who interviews him for the job.
Thus begins Ernie's quest - to please a woman through his artwork, AND through his actions.
This was a smart and affecting short story that sent me looking for a collection of Goldberg's short works, but there appears to be none in existence. Someone remedy this, please.
November 18, 2016
Maybe short stories aren't for me, audio books either. I didn't really like this one. It's not terrible but it didn't draw me in.
November 25, 2016
Maybe I was distracted, but it just didn't make it for me. I could not gather much interest on poor Ernie disfunctional women ties. I would have liked to hear more about stamps though :)
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews