Discussion Notes: The Ways You Are Gone
Find this week’s story here: The Ways You Are Gone by Kami Westhoff.
Next week’s story: Referential by Lorrie Moore.
Rated: Explicit
Gerald, Maya, and Anais discuss The Ways Your Are Gone by Kami Westoff, a story about the various ways that someone can be absent from a loved one’s life. While the hosts agree on the quality of the story, the deftness of the writing and the realism of the narrator, they disagree, loudly, on the narrator’s likability. On the one hand, Maya and Gerald defend the narrator’s bleak vision of the future as a coping mechanism for loss. Unconvinced, Anais finds it offensive to the memory of the person lost. In the end, the hosts muse on how their conversation mirrors real world discussions on how to mourn. What do you make of how we mourn, and how the narrator mourns, specifically?
Next week Rammy returns!
Did we miss a crucial piece of this story? Tell us below!
Also, don’t forget to rate the story! For the history of our goofy system, see Anais’ post “Read Short Stories or Ray Bradbury Cries.” On a scale of 1-6 Bradberries, how do you rate this story? Tell us in the comments below or via voicemail.
Lastly, your reviews on iTunes help us grow. Please search Literary Roadhouse in iTunes and leave reviews for all of our shows.