Blog 1

In “The Practice of Creative Writing” on page 72, the author referenced Amy Fusselman’s piece, “The Pharamcist’s Mate” as an example of great literary energy. I know that this is extremely cynical, but aside from the captivating title and first eight sentences, I felt increasingly depressed as I read her piece. Perhaps this is because the idea of your father dying is a miserable topic that I had no interest in reading, but I felt even her literary devices became repetitive and thus lost my intrigue. I loved the excerpts from her dad’s journal as a med student in the marines, but all the talk of her dad being dead became too heavy in contrast to Fusselman’s attempt to make the writing a relatively easy, thoughtful read. I think that she had dark motivation behind her piece but it seemed like a personal quip written too heavily to be considered “energetic.” I agree that the format of the piece was lively and refreshing but only because it was unique.

Also, the song lyrics at the end of the story seemed very twisted to me. She implied that her mom was unattractive and called her parents “old” (who wants to be reminded of their age when they are actually aging?) and the point of why she thought her mom and dad “ruled” revolved around her receiving undeserved gifts from them. This seemed to contradict the profound emotion behind appreciating the sacrifice parents make, so it undermined the final sentence of her piece, which was supposed to reveal heart-break.