First 13 Short Stories

The first thirteen short stories we had to read for class were interesting. I liked "Last Requests." I thought it was easy to read, and it was interesting to see what different people wanted to eat for their last meal. "Nipple Jesus" was different, but I kind of liked it too. I am not sure how I would feel if I saw a picture of Jesus made out of breast, but I probably would not like it. "Party Down at the Square" was sad, but there was a lot of action in it and I liked that. I really liked "Orientation." It was entertaining, and I think that it is probably really like that in a lot of offices. "Interpreter of Maladies" was good, but I think it was a little too long. I did not like "In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson is Buried." I had no clue what the story was about when I read it the first time. Talking about it in the mini book club helped me understand it a little better, but I still did not like the story. I thought "The Best of Betty" was funny. It was really easy for me to read. I did not like "I Know What I'm Doing About all the Attention I've Been Getting." Pretty much all the story talked about was the narrator getting dressed. What was the purpose of the story? I also did not like "Hills Like White Elephants." The whole story was two people sitting at a table drinking and talking about abortion. "The Lady with the Pet Dog" was good, but I think it was to long too. I think the author could have left out some of the very specific details and it wouldn't have changed the story too much. I thought "Everyday Use" was good, but in some places it was difficult to follow along with. "People Like That are the Only People Here" was a really sad story. No one should have to go through pain like that especially babies. I did not like the way it ended. I wanted to know if the baby was ok or if the cancer came back. I also wanted to know what happened to the other kids that were in the story. "Catskin" was weird. It wasn't bad. It was just really weird.
I liked going to the mini book clubs. I thought most of the facilitators did a really good job leading their book clubs. I thought the mini book clubs were good because they let us talk about the different ideas we all had about the stories, and some of the mini books helped me understand some of the stories better.