illustration by Yvetta Fedorova, from the 4/20/09 New Yorker, accompanying the short story
I just read A Tiny Feast in the April 20 New Yorker. I shouldn't have read it at work because now everybody is wondering why I'm crying. The King and Queen of the faeries have brought their human changeling son to the hospital because he has leukemia. The faery's spells hide the fact that the dreary hospital room has been carpeted with grass and clover, that what appears to be a homemade quilt is actually a "beastie" who loves the child like a dog. It's not all sweetness and light though. The queen is a reluctant mother. She doesn't quite know what to do with the feelings she has for this child, this changeling who was a gift from her husband after a spat.
I went to the author's bios to read about Chris Adrian-- I'd never heard the name before. It was when I read that he is a Fellow in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at the University of California, San Francisco, that I really had to get the kleenex. Turns out he's a very accomplished writer. I'm his newest fan.
3 comments:
The beastie. I didn't cry, but wasn't expecting that.
Reemember that day in school whenthey were passign out brains? The girls were all prime and proper, while the boys were playing grabass in the back?
God only knows what I thought they were passing out, planes, chains, who knows, but I said no thank you very much.
later, I discovered what was being handed out, and to this day I wake with some trepidation worried about what is looking to bite me today.
Today for instance, I learned you blogged. I swear I looked earlier. Of course I would have been here sooner. Now I have no excuse. Oh, the time I have wasted.
Please forgice me.
Your blog has won a Lemonade Stand award. You may view it here. http://to-the-manner-born.blogspot.com/2009/04/we-get-to-share-several-awards-part-1.html
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