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The Violet Eye
‘Don’t be fooled, this is no simple story of fathers, sons and pigeons, but a quietly powerful unfolding of what we send out into the world and what is returned’ Tania Hershman
- GenresShort Stories
13 pages, Paperback
Published September 1, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 14, 2021
“He hoped more, he feared more.”
A poignant nine pager, about a man and his life-purposeful hobby of homing pigeons, with the man’s own instinct of a ‘homing instinct’ that lingers, perhaps ironically, upon a yearning for a life still to be what it was before his wife had left him, left him because, outwardly at least, of her attitude to the relentless “bird shit and sawdust” the husband brought into the kitchen on his feet. She’d left before and come back. Telling relationship with his young son (whom his mother wants to follow her and live with her) as the father continues, in the meantime, to tutor the son (and now us) about the lore of racing homing pigeons, with the superstition or suspicion of truth that one with a violet eye is always to be a champion. imageI learnt a lot about this in such a deceptively short story’s long journey as they raced the pigeons in North Scotland where the father lives. The outcome of the marriage and its implications will not be easily forgotten by anyone who reads this story, and I cannot tell you about it here, in case you take off the wrong ring when it comes home to you.
A poignant nine pager, about a man and his life-purposeful hobby of homing pigeons, with the man’s own instinct of a ‘homing instinct’ that lingers, perhaps ironically, upon a yearning for a life still to be what it was before his wife had left him, left him because, outwardly at least, of her attitude to the relentless “bird shit and sawdust” the husband brought into the kitchen on his feet. She’d left before and come back. Telling relationship with his young son (whom his mother wants to follow her and live with her) as the father continues, in the meantime, to tutor the son (and now us) about the lore of racing homing pigeons, with the superstition or suspicion of truth that one with a violet eye is always to be a champion. imageI learnt a lot about this in such a deceptively short story’s long journey as they raced the pigeons in North Scotland where the father lives. The outcome of the marriage and its implications will not be easily forgotten by anyone who reads this story, and I cannot tell you about it here, in case you take off the wrong ring when it comes home to you.
July 5, 2019
Joint review: The Violet Eye by Mike Fox, The Message by Philippa Holloway, Broad Moor by Alison Moore and Jutland by Lucie McKnight Hardy
The Violet Eye is about a family in flux. Following the breakdown of his parents' marriage, Jamie bonds with his dad as the two of them care for Bob's racing pigeons. For his part, Bob is desperate to reunite with his ex-wife, but is unable to conceive of a way to reach out that doesn't involve his beloved pigeons. The culmination is an (unintentionally?) brutal rejection which signals an irreversible – and sinister – change. The Violet Eye is certainly effective, but it lacks the eerie edge I'm accustomed to finding in these stories, leaving me a little disappointed.
TinyLetter | Twitter | Instagram | Tumblr
The Violet Eye is about a family in flux. Following the breakdown of his parents' marriage, Jamie bonds with his dad as the two of them care for Bob's racing pigeons. For his part, Bob is desperate to reunite with his ex-wife, but is unable to conceive of a way to reach out that doesn't involve his beloved pigeons. The culmination is an (unintentionally?) brutal rejection which signals an irreversible – and sinister – change. The Violet Eye is certainly effective, but it lacks the eerie edge I'm accustomed to finding in these stories, leaving me a little disappointed.
TinyLetter | Twitter | Instagram | Tumblr
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews