I have known about Roddy Doyle but never read anything by him. Not too long ago, I had the perfect opportunity to read his short story, “The Plate.” A book blogger, Carol reviewed it and linked to the story.
The first line of the story set the pace, “I love you but I think I’m dying.”
Jim is walking around in the back yard holding his stomach. At first his wife Maeve thinks he was stabbed but he wasn’t. She says she is going to bring him to the hospital but then there is a flash back to an argument they had the night before which, involved a plate.
What they were arguing about wasn’t important, in fact it didn’t seem like they knew exactly what they were arguing about. I think it was just setting the tone of their relationship. They seemed to love each other but bickered a lot, like many couples do.
After the flash back they get in the car and rush off to the hospital but there is a surprise ending that you wouldn’t be able to guess. You’ll just have to go read the story, here, if you want to know. I really enjoyed this story but I felt like I was left hanging at the end. It certainly wasnt tied up with a neat little bow. I
definitely want to read more by Doyle, now that I got a tast of his writing.  You can read the story here.
Also reviewed by:
If you would like to participate in Short Story Mondays, 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 review. Come join in the fun!
Copyright 2007-2010: All the posts within this blog were originally posted by Teddy Rose and should not be reproduced without express written permission.