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Counting the Wounds
Praise for Lyn Coffin's Writing: "Lyn Coffin... respects the contours of reality and gives us, in a most unusual form, a story about illusion and self-deception." --Joyce Carol Oates, about Coffin's story "Falling Off the Scaffold", published in The Best American Short Stories 1979
In her short story "Counting the Wounds", Coffin again wrestles with the topics of reality and illusion, truth and facade. It is the seventh day of the rest of Susan's life -- a life in which an unexpected tragedy has called everything into question.
Counting the Wounds is a story told obliquely – its style mirroring Susan’s experience as she is faced with a brutal reality: What Susan wants she has lost; what she says she no longer wants, becomes all she has left. The story circles, never looking directly at the event that has overturned Susan’s world until the end when Susan must accept that the only way past grief is to move directly through it.
In her short story "Counting the Wounds", Coffin again wrestles with the topics of reality and illusion, truth and facade. It is the seventh day of the rest of Susan's life -- a life in which an unexpected tragedy has called everything into question.
Counting the Wounds is a story told obliquely – its style mirroring Susan’s experience as she is faced with a brutal reality: What Susan wants she has lost; what she says she no longer wants, becomes all she has left. The story circles, never looking directly at the event that has overturned Susan’s world until the end when Susan must accept that the only way past grief is to move directly through it.
9 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 3, 2014
7 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 2, 2014
A vignette on life and loss... and death.
A vignette on life and loss... and death.
Beautifully and sadly written. Their words are like ripe plums, too long on the branch. Rotten, though sweet they may seem. Her pain is palpable, yet so is her knife-edged decision to be alone, all alone, from those who would steal her pain, make it less. A vignette, on life and loss... and death. It moves us whether we will or no.
A vignette on life and loss... and death.
Beautifully and sadly written. Their words are like ripe plums, too long on the branch. Rotten, though sweet they may seem. Her pain is palpable, yet so is her knife-edged decision to be alone, all alone, from those who would steal her pain, make it less. A vignette, on life and loss... and death. It moves us whether we will or no.
May 11, 2014
I'm a little surprised, confused and shocked. It's a different type of book that's for sure. I think I got what's going on but still not sure. Books like this do make you think though. Do I see what's going on compared to others? Is what I get from it different than what others get from it? Take a chance. Read it. See what you think.
May 13, 2014
This short work gives a very authentic look at a fractured state of mind. Very well done.
August 18, 2015
Not sure I really got it. I think I need to go back and read it over being prepared to take it more slowly and feel the words. Just as I was really starting to get where it was going it was over.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews