The Extra: Short Story

by Michael Christie

From the critically acclaimed short-story collection The Beggar’s Garden, “The Extra” features a young, mentally disabled man and his best friend, Rick, who find work as extras on a film set. This story was nominated for a Journey Prize.

The Beggar’s Garden follows a diverse group of characters, from a bank manager to a drug addict to a retired Samaritan, a web designer, and a car thief, as they drift through each other’s lives in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. Michael Christie’s darkly funny debut collection won the Vancouver Book Award; it was longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and was a finalist for the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize.

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50 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 13, 2012

About the author

MICHAEL CHRISTIE is the award-winning author of the novel If I Fall, If I Die, which was longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, the Kirkus Prize, was selected as a New York Times Editors' Choice Pick, and was on numerous best-of 2015 lists. His linked collection of stories, The Beggar's Garden, was longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, shortlisted for the Writers' Trust Prize for Fiction, and won the Vancouver Book Award. His essays and book reviews have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Globe & Mail.

Greenwood, his most was released in September 2019. A bestseller in Canada, it has been nominated for numerous awards.

A former carpenter and homeless shelter worker, he divides his time between Victoria, British Columbia, and Galiano Island, where he lives with his wife and two sons in a timber frame house that he built himself.

Reviews

[K the Vampire Slayer · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Extra is a story I first read in highschool and didn't like very much overall enjoyment or prose-wise, but I can appreciate it on a technical level and do think it does what it set out to do, showing a raw critique on the treatment of the disabled or vulnerable in society through a mix of different themes, symbolism and etc. It has a few interesting talking points for sure, and I like the execution a bit more the second time around, but I still have mixed feelings and on reread, it very much is... "one of those stories you read in school." 2.5 stars.

[Maria do Socorro Baptista · Rating 4 out of 5]

Um pequeno conto sobre relações abusivas disfarçadas de amizade, e de como nossa sociedade se nega, muitas vezes, a cuidar de fatos dos mais necessitados. Triste.