Paul Vance's "Support Group" is about a man that attends a meeting for sex addiction? those sexually abused? something like that... Anyway, he talks about his issued with masturbation and women throughout his life, constantly apologizing for his awkwardness and inability to say "those words." In the end, he just walks out of the meeting.
I really love that you did this piece entirely in dialogue. It works really well and is exceptionally entertaining to read. Some of the lines are really funny, and one really gets a sense for the character. He's got some unique views on life, in general, and the structure of this piece really works. That being said, sometimes his awkwardness comes off as too-heavy and gets annoying for the reader to trudge through. I like the awkwardness, but you have to be careful not to make it TOO heavy-handed.
There were some images that he started and worked with that were interesting and weird, in a good way, like the rotting pee for semen. They really helped distinguish the work. The were some areas, on the other hand, where the image was cut off and it sounded weird, like when he said, "I still did it in the trees after that, though. And the squirrels..." Be careful in things like this because it sounds like he was doing something sexual to squirrels.
The ending was odd though. With him just walking out, I wasn't sure how to take it. Was it supposed to say how he didn't identify with the people in the meeting at all or about how selfish he was? I just had no idea how to understand this.
No comments:
Post a Comment