Springy story review: "The Bowl" by Aimee Bender

Why it springs to mind: The quote about her heart. Today is start of American Heart Month.

Title: "The Bowl"
Where read: The Girl in the Flammable Skirt (1998) story collection by Aimee Bender
Length: five pages tops
Memorable: loss, longing for something unknown
Notable: written in second person, "you"
Summary: A woman mysteriously receives a green fruit bowl as a gift and her boss dies unexpectedly of a heart attack.
Origin:

"I actually have a green bowl from my grandmother that looks a lot like the bowl in the story and felt an interest in writing about it. Not sure why. The inexplicable mind."
— Aimee Bender in a interview with Superstition Review, an online literary magazine

Quote:

"At lunch you order steamed vegetables because you're remembering that you have a heart too. You feel humbled by your heart, it works so hard. You want to thank it. You give your heart a little pat."

Personal attachment: Read this collection in grad school and have had the pleasure of hearing the author read at Richard Hugo House.
Pairs well with: "Quiet Please," and "The Ring," also in this collection
About the author: Aimee Bender is well known for her magical, fantastical short fiction. She's published multiple collections and her newest is The Color Master Stories (2013).

Comments

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