"Oscar Frances and the Eternal Sadness"

I really enjoyed “Oscar Frances and the Eternal Sadness.” As I was reading, I kept thinking about how similar this story sounded to the short stories we’ve read in our anthology- great job, Andy. The story is about a man named Henry who settled for a normal life with a wife named Kim and a son named Casey. His life is extremely ordinary and mundane; throughout the entire story he keeps remembering the love of his life, Zoe. I thought Andy was very clever opening the story with the book Henry had never read. After a very jarring dream of every girl he’d ever cared about minus Zoe, Henry decides to share moments of youth with the young employee at his garage and finally reads the book. Andy wrapped up the story nicely by having Henry open the book at the end of the story, only to find Zoe’s engagement question. The end of the story broke my heart. The reason Henry broke up with Zoe was the distance; however, he finds out she would have moved for him. The details in this story are downright amazing. The transitions to back story are smooth and flowing; everything makes sense. I really don’t know how to criticize this piece because it is far above my writing standards. Every aspect of short stories is executed here: characterization, external and internal conflict, and setting. This story is completely and totally believable; the end has a twist but isn’t a huge BANG! It’s subtle and knocks you quietly to your knees. Overall, a really amazing story.