Hello All.
Today I am simply writing about a short story I've read called "Brothers" by Sherwood Anderson (another 1920's read). If that name sounds familiar to you, I'm not surprised. Sherwood Anderson is one of the authors credited for making "short stories" a thing, so-to-speak. He authored several books including "Dark Laughter" and the more widely known, "Winesburg Ohio." He was also Ernest Hemingway's mentor even though their friendship, as I understand it, didn't end in the most positive of ways.
This story is even shorter than "The Gay Old Dog" mentioned in my previous short story blog. It essentially follows moments of four nameless people's lives (five if you include the short bits about the mother-in-law), loneliness, chaos, obsession, taking life for granted, and a murder. Which sounds amazing if I were to stop there, right? Sadly, I found this story to fall a little short.
The entire premise of this book was amazing and it even has moments of good descriptions, but that's all you get--there are only moments of being drawn into the book and the rest of the timeline is flat. Sudden shifts in focus and a slightly skewed sense of the timeframe forces you out of the story. Aside from the fact that there was quite a few repetitive parts of the book, which I assume were meant to be foreshadows emphasizing other elements, the execution didn't yield the best results.
Believe it or not, this is the first work of Anderson's that I've actually read, even though I've known of him. Even more than that, I actually would be willing to give a more full-length novel of his a try some day. Perhaps because I like his ideas and have a pretty good feel for where "Brothers" was supposed to go. Perhaps I wonder if the story would come together better with more details and a chance to use foreshadowing in a different light.
After all of this, I still don't know if the premise of the ghost possessing the old man and the stories were only supposed to be figurative in nature. Maybe at some point I'll re-read it and figure it out. Considering the tag-line for his book "Dark Laughter" (on the provided over image above), it seems like Anderson had a thing for writing about "desires" awakened by third parties to a relationship. Sounds very much like Brothers...?
Have you ever read any of Sherwood Anderson's works? What's that? Where do you find the story...? Well, as far as I understand it, your best bet is through one of Anderson's books of short stories. I do have a goodreads link that may yield some results if you're really searching. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27395489-brothers
In the future when a short story title is hard to find, I may scan my copies for your convenience. Feel free to let me know if that's something you guys would like. 🌟💛🌟
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