Fiction Packet 1

Survivors 
As I read through this story, I was still stuck on the first couple sentences. I kept thinking, what kind of person wants to die first just so they don't have to deal with that person's family? If I were sick, and my lover died that would be all I thought about. I liked the way the author brought in details to introduce the relationship between the lovers, and his family. I also wonder if one wanting to die before the other was just an example of perhaps a real life defense mechanism, focusing on something less worse than your lover dying. The more I thought about it, I felt like that was a realistic reaction.

Sharon Krinsky, Mystery Stories
I thought some of these stories were a bit weird, and there wasn't anything mysterious about them. What I did like about the author is just her use of details, it helps paint a picture in your mind. I'm wondering if she really knew all these people she wrote about (The Indian, the Japanese man) or if they are just stories.

Resident
I liked the connection of the wind from his childhood to now, in his residency days. It's interesting that in both scenarios, he was alone, enjoying his time outside, I'm wondering if that means something as well.

The Letter from Home
This was my favorite although I found it confusing by the end of it. What I liked the most was the style of writing Jamaica uses. I love writing that is free spirited, that just kind of flows, doesn't have typical punctuation because I feel like it sucks you in and you can't stop reading. At first, I thought this story was about your typical Mom and wife who is extremely busy and exhausted, hence the format of the story and talking about various household chores. But as I continued through the next two paragraphs I don't really know what to think. I'm wondering what it meant by, "are the children ready yet? will they bear their mother's name?" And who was the man that was asking? Because to me it implies that perhaps the woman is pregnant or why else would there be a question if they bear their mothers name? I'm assuming this means last name. And why is it called a letter from home? Is it a letter? This will be a good story to discuss because there are so many questions and interpretations you can pull from it.