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The Point
Short story from The New Yorker.
ebook
Published October 1, 1990
17 people want to read
About the author
Charles D'Ambrosio
22 books133 followersCharles D'Ambrosio attended the Iowa Writers Workshop after getting his BA in English at Oberlin College in Ohio. He is the author of two collections of short stories, The Point and The Dead Fish Museum, and one collection of essays, Orphans. He has taught at several universities and workshops, including Reed College and The Tin House Summer Workshop, both in Portland, Oregon where he lives with his wife, Heather Larimer.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 29, 2022
Charles D’Ambrosio’s short story “The Point” focuses on Kurt, a thirteen-year-old boy whose job it is to escort his mother’s drunk friends home from their house at night. Kurt’s father is dead (he shot himself), and since then Kurt’s mom has started drinking and throwing parties more. Kurt considers himself an expert at guiding these drunks home; he’s been doing it since he was 10. The night of the story, he is tasked with escorting Mrs. Gurney home. Mrs. Gurney is a little more difficult than his usual drink; she frequently stops and tries to take her clothes off in an attempt to seduce him (maybe?). Kurt likes the routine of getting the drunks home; their problems, at least that moment, are easily solvable. As they progress towards Mrs. Gurney’s home, we get more of the backstory of Kurt’s dad’s death: how it was rule accidental but wasn’t, how his dad was a Vietnam veteran, and how it was Kurt who found him dead, most of his face blown off. We also get to see one of the letters Kurt’s dad wrote to his mother while he was in Vietnam as a medic.
Though the basic action of the story is Kurt walking a drunk Mrs. Gurney home, the heart of the story is Kurt and his dad’s death. His dad’s death is a specter that looms over the story at large. We do not get all the details of this right away. Instead, D’Ambrosio doles out these details at first. The first mention we get of Kurt’s dad’s death is at the end of the first paragraph: “When Father was alive, she rarely drank, but after he shot himself you could say she really let herself go.” On the surface, this is a casual, blunt way to talk about a dead father and a grieving mother, but as the story goes on we understand why Kurt uses this language. He still hasn’t processed his grief about the situation. It isn’t until the 4th page that we get another mention of Kurt’s father’s death. Kurt is talking about a song from his parents generation and says, “It reminded me of my father, who shot himself in the head one morning- did I say this already?” He has, but he’s given us a new detail. His father shot himself in the head one morning. Kurt goes on to say that it was ruled accidental and that everyone they knew believed his dad had been cleaning his gun, but his mother told him that it wasn’t accidental at all.
After Kurt escorts Mrs. Gurney home and goes back to his house, he talks about the shrine his mother has made of his father’s things: his Silver Star, his Purple Heart, his medical diploma, and a foul ball he caught at a baseball game. This is how his mother remembers his father, but not Kurt. Instead, Kurt goes to his room and rereads one of his father’s letters to his mother from Vietnam. This is where we get the most insight into Kurt’s father. Including this letter is a particularly smart move from D’Ambrosio because it effectively develops a character who is already dead when the action of the story starts. We can’t get into his head anymore, but we can read his letters. In his letter, Kurt’s dad talks about trying to help a man whose legs and feet had been blown off. The man was going to die, but what he noticed was that shrapnel had hit a can of his shaving cream and so shaving cream was shooting everywhere as this man died.
In the letter, Kurt’s father writes, “It’s a world of hurt- that’s the phrase we use- and things happen over here that you just can’t keep to yourself. I’ve seen what happens to men who try.” These lines are prophetic in two senses. First, Kurt’s father ends up like those men. He ends up killing himself, presumably because he did not talk about or deal with his experiences in Vietnam. Second, Kurt is on the same path currently as his father. We learn in the very last paragraph of the story that it was Kurt who found his dad dead that morning. Kurt has been carrying this revelation the entire story, and in the final paragraph he releases. By telling us, the readers, he is not keeping this pain to himself. He is taking his father’s advice and revealing the world of hurt he has experienced, thereby breaking the cycle.
Though the basic action of the story is Kurt walking a drunk Mrs. Gurney home, the heart of the story is Kurt and his dad’s death. His dad’s death is a specter that looms over the story at large. We do not get all the details of this right away. Instead, D’Ambrosio doles out these details at first. The first mention we get of Kurt’s dad’s death is at the end of the first paragraph: “When Father was alive, she rarely drank, but after he shot himself you could say she really let herself go.” On the surface, this is a casual, blunt way to talk about a dead father and a grieving mother, but as the story goes on we understand why Kurt uses this language. He still hasn’t processed his grief about the situation. It isn’t until the 4th page that we get another mention of Kurt’s father’s death. Kurt is talking about a song from his parents generation and says, “It reminded me of my father, who shot himself in the head one morning- did I say this already?” He has, but he’s given us a new detail. His father shot himself in the head one morning. Kurt goes on to say that it was ruled accidental and that everyone they knew believed his dad had been cleaning his gun, but his mother told him that it wasn’t accidental at all.
After Kurt escorts Mrs. Gurney home and goes back to his house, he talks about the shrine his mother has made of his father’s things: his Silver Star, his Purple Heart, his medical diploma, and a foul ball he caught at a baseball game. This is how his mother remembers his father, but not Kurt. Instead, Kurt goes to his room and rereads one of his father’s letters to his mother from Vietnam. This is where we get the most insight into Kurt’s father. Including this letter is a particularly smart move from D’Ambrosio because it effectively develops a character who is already dead when the action of the story starts. We can’t get into his head anymore, but we can read his letters. In his letter, Kurt’s dad talks about trying to help a man whose legs and feet had been blown off. The man was going to die, but what he noticed was that shrapnel had hit a can of his shaving cream and so shaving cream was shooting everywhere as this man died.
In the letter, Kurt’s father writes, “It’s a world of hurt- that’s the phrase we use- and things happen over here that you just can’t keep to yourself. I’ve seen what happens to men who try.” These lines are prophetic in two senses. First, Kurt’s father ends up like those men. He ends up killing himself, presumably because he did not talk about or deal with his experiences in Vietnam. Second, Kurt is on the same path currently as his father. We learn in the very last paragraph of the story that it was Kurt who found his dad dead that morning. Kurt has been carrying this revelation the entire story, and in the final paragraph he releases. By telling us, the readers, he is not keeping this pain to himself. He is taking his father’s advice and revealing the world of hurt he has experienced, thereby breaking the cycle.
July 23, 2022
I get the points The Point is trying to make but I don’t love the execution. Structurally meh, description eh. And it was way too long. This is The Point, not The Line. (Get it!)
Also, that 37 year old woman feeling up our 13 year old narrator moment was WAY creepier than the narrative gave it credit for!!! I mean, it gives it a bit of credit but the power dynamics mostly slide under the radar. Which kind of misses the point of that.
Also, that 37 year old woman feeling up our 13 year old narrator moment was WAY creepier than the narrative gave it credit for!!! I mean, it gives it a bit of credit but the power dynamics mostly slide under the radar. Which kind of misses the point of that.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 2, 2022
Read for my Advanced Fiction Writing Class (:
This was absolutely crazy, wild, from start to finish. The discussion we had in class definitely helped boost the rating on this one. I can't wait to read more stories like this for said class!
This was absolutely crazy, wild, from start to finish. The discussion we had in class definitely helped boost the rating on this one. I can't wait to read more stories like this for said class!
April 18, 2024
This story was very depressing so even though it was short it took me awhile to get through because of how dark it was. The story concerns a child named Kurt who spends his free time working at his self created job of escorting various drunks in his hometown back to their houses. In addition Kurt is also dealing with the death of his father (who chose to end his own life) we learn through letters that Kurt’s father was a medic in the army during the Vietnam War and that the experiences his father had during the war haunted him for the rest of his life. Kurt spends much of the story trying to figure out who his father was and who that makes him. One of the town drunks hits on Kurt while he is escorting her home but he does the honorable thing and refuses the advances. This allows both of them to keep their dignity. Kurt later admits he is beginning to be curious about intimacy and romance with women at this time in his life. Yet he also acknowledges that he knows that he wants his relationships to be built on love and trust and not just casual, superficial intimacy.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 17, 2024
A perfect short story. There's also a brilliant New Yorker podcast where Matthew Klam reads The Point. I highly recommend it.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews