Quite awhile ago, someone gave me the link to the short story, Friendly Fire by Tessa Hadley. You c an read it for free, here. I finally got around to reading it this weekend.
Friendly Fire is about a middle-aged woman, Shelly who took a cleaning job to earn some extra money. Her friend, Pam owned a cleaning business and needed some help to do a “scrub-off”, an extra detailed clean.
There is absolutly no plot to this story but it has it’s moments here and there. For instance, we learn that Shelly has a son in the British Army, over in Afghanistan. We also learn a little bit about Shelly’s husband.
At only 4 pages in length, this story reads quickly however, with no plot, there really wasn’t enough for me to be able to enjoy this story. I can’t recommend this one.
If you would like to participate in Short Story Mondays or just find out about some great short stories, go to John of The Book Mine Set. He has a short story review every Monday and a place for you to link your short story reviews. Come join in the fun!
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I know there are plenty of people who go for such stories, referring to them as “slices of life” and the like. I’m not a fan. Give me a plot– it doesn’t have to involve aliens or a car chase, just something simple simple will suffice. Or if you don’t have a plot, make it interesting. Tell it without spaces, throw in some surrealist imagery, you know, not some lady ironing a shirt wondering why she’s so sad today.
I love short stories. Sorry to hear this one was a disappointment.
I hear ya John!
Kathleen, I love them too. They can’t all work out but hopefully the next one I read will be better.
I love short stories too. I actually don’t mind if they don’t have a plot as long as the it’s a good character study. Sorry this one didn’t work for you.
Margot, it wasn’t a great character study, IMO. Just okay.