Shot of Short #58: Belinda by Amity Gaige
January 27, 2010 by Rob
Filed under 100 Shots of Short, Short Story Reviews
Title: Belinda by Amity Gaige
Date Read: 27 January 2010
Available Online?: YES (as one of the stories posted by Harper Perennial on their website Fifty-Two Stories, which promises a new (or classic) short story from their collection, posted every week throughout 2010).
Briefly: The story follows Karin as she progresses through a number of unsuccessful marriages. It’s a story which not only explores Karin’s relationship with the men she chooses to marry, but also (probably more so), the relationship she has with each newly-adopted family.
Afterthoughts: Every now and then a story comes along and it just goes right over my head. Unfortunately, Belinda seems to be one of them. I get that Karin’s relationship with each extended family has some bearing on each marriage itself. And I get how beautiful, deep and searching Gaige’s prose is. But for me that’s about as far as I seem to get with it. A real shame because I can feel the very essence of Gaige’s literary talent reaching out to try and grab me. Maybe a different story on a different day would work out better.
Notable Quote: Despite the fact that she did not see her in-laws more than a half a dozen times a year, Karin thought of them often. They occupied a disproportionate space in her mind. She sent her mother-in-law postcards with irreverent photographs. She thought long and hard about a gift that would amuse the sister, or flatter the father. When shopping for her own clothes, she unconsciously chose things her in-laws might compliment.
Rating: 
*Story read as part of my 100 Shots of Short reading challenge.
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Rob, a self-confessed bibliophile, is without any hope of rehabilitation. He gets unnaturally excited over anything book-shaped, and if book sniffing were a crime then he would have been locked up years ago (which wouldn't bother him in the slightest provided his cell were lined with books)
