SOUNDTRACK:
[READ: December 5, 2022] “The Hole”
This year, S. ordered me The Short Story Advent Calendar. This is my fifth time reading the Calendar. I didn’t know about the first one until it was long out of print (sigh), but each year since has been very enjoyable. Here’s what they say this year
Like we always do at this time: the Short Story Advent Calendar is back for 2022. We had such a great time last year working with our first-ever guest editor, the one and only Alberto Manguel. This year, however, we’re bringing things back to basics. No overarching theme or format, just 25 top-class short stories, selected in-house, by some of the best writers in North America and beyond. It’s December 5. To officially kick off the 2022 Short Story Advent Calendar, here is a story about faith and carbs from the author of The Prince of Mournful Thoughts.
I really enjoyed this story of familial conflict. The conflict is between two sisters. One who has done everything correctly and one, Nikki, who, has been digging a hole for herself her whole life.
Nikki has come to live with the narrator. She has also stopped drinking (sober for the first time in thirty years). But the narrator is not perfect either (far from it). She is divorced and her daughter is not talking to her.
The narrator, Sisi, is, to be blunt, really uptight.
They’ve even got the CN Tower decorated with ridiculous multi-coloured lights now, and every night they shine as a beacon for degenerates and deadbeats.
I Just Read About That... 