Review: Lush, Dark, Powerful Short Story
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 09 2, 2013
My rating: 4 of 5 starsAnnabelle by Nancy Christie is a Pixel Hall Press publication. This short story is due for release in September 2013. As the story opens we are introduced to Annabelle telling her story to someone verbally. Her father was a painter and her mother posed for him. In fact, the job of being a muse sapped all of her mother's strength ,leaving her pale and empty, with nothing left over for her daughter. Due to her father's obsession and the endless hours her parents spend in his studio, Annabelle is severely neglected, emotionally. So desperate for her parent's attention, Annabelle will do anything to be noticed by them. Her most fervent wish is for her father to paint her. But, she is always told she is too young. Now as Annabelle has reached adulthood, the scars from her parent's neglect has taken it's toll on her. She is haunted by her childhood and has trouble reconciling the past with the present. This story is hauntingly sad, and perhaps a bit of a cautionary tale. Our responsibility to our children must come first over our own passions and needs. Neglect isn't just about not providing the basic food and shelter, but also the absence of emotional connections. But, not only that, the innocence of childhood is robbed here, by the actions of both parents, who are equally responsible for the circumstances that come about, due to their self absorbed lifestyle and obsessions. The cost of this type of neglect is so very high as this story demonstrates. This story packs a lot into such a short amount of space. I would think it would be just as hard to tell a short story as it would be a novella or full length novel, since you only have a certain amount of time to give the reader all the necessary details to make the story work. Often, short stories will leave me cold. It's only been recently that the short story been improved upon, and this is a prime example. The writing is lush, descriptive and powerful. Overall this one is a solid A.