Black Box Review

By, Nick Norton

Jennifer Egan’s “Black Box” gives us a thrilling spy tale set in the near future, delivered from the perspective of an undercover citizen spy. Her mission is to infiltrate the home of a “powerful … violent and ruthless” terrorist and extract confidential information using seduction as well as various technological upgrades implanted in her body (Egan, 4).

When “Black Box” was released in 2012, it received critical acclaim as one of the first full-length short stories to be published and delivered entirely on Twitter. The utilization of this new medium was undoubtedly a ploy to attract new readers. Starting May 24^th at 8 PM, Egan released one tweet per minute, for one hour, for ten days straight. At the time this must have been seen as a truly groundbreaking method of presentation and was probably quite engaging to take part in the viewing. How nifty, a story crafted through tweets that anyone can access for free. However, seven years later, the novelty of this method has more than worn off. I read the story entirely on twitter, and boy do I regret it. The tweet excerpts are incredibly jarring to read continuously and the occasional ad that popped up in-between posts did not exactly add to the experience. Egan’s method does not so much encourage the reader to fill in any plot holes, it practically forces them to. The story starts with the citizen spy already on her mission, skipping any backstory entirely, not to mention leaving out why she is on the mission in the first place. What I did enjoy about reading in the twitter format was that I could see which of the tweets other people had favorited and retweeted, as well as commented on. This added an unexpectedly modern touch to the reading, as with most paperback books the reader is scolded for ‘commenting’ on the pages of the story.

Aside from my gripes about the format and structure of the story, “Black Box” is actually pretty entertaining. The pacing is noticeably fast and action packed from the get-go, as Egan wastes no time introducing the reader to the thrilling mission of the ‘beauty.’ The action sequences are entertaining as well as engaging, as the reader gets it all through the calculated and robotic narration of this badass, volunteer spy. The plot itself wasn’t too hard to follow; its spy elements we’ve seen countless times before. Be it stylishly through James Bond or groovily through Austin Powers, infiltrating the bad guys base to steal information to prevent him from ruling the world is nothing groundbreaking. Where I found this story stood out was in what I believe to be one of its central themes: the objectification of women. Through its reference to the female citizen spies as “beauties,” and the routine usage of seduction in order to obtain information, it makes me wonder if Egan wants us to view the citizen spy as more human than robot, or perhaps more robot than human, the latter of which would lends itself to the idea of her being an ‘object.’

Overall I would give Jennifer Egan’s twitter fiction, “Black Box” a C+. The story itself is enthralling as well as emotional but it is bogged down by the jarring twitter format and overused spy tropes, ultimately preventing it from being a true masterpiece in modern storytelling.

 

Works Cited

Egan, Jennifer. “Black Box.” The New Yorker, Condé Nast Publications, 4 June 2012, newyorker.com/magazine/2012/06/04/black-box-2. Accessed 5 Feb. 2017.

Naste, Conde. Manarola. 2017. Traveler. Conde Naste. web. 26 Mar 2017

Critically Interpreted/Amateurly Reviewed

Your Place and Mine by Nicci Gerrard and Sean French (AKA Nicci French)

“Your Place and Mine” is an intriguing romance that provides a unique view of a budding relationship from the perspectives of the two involved. From the get go we are introduced to Laurence and Terry. Laurence is portrayed as a relatively normal guy who works a day job and has recently started seeing a new girl; Terry. She on the other hand, starts the story off as a fairly normal girl, kind of clingy yet still sane. However, over the course of 5 days Laurence has cheated-on and dumped Terry. Terry’s retaliation the day following the break-up Terry is a plot twist to say the least.

Some of the major themes explored in the story are all themes related to romance, such as love, lust and heartbreak. It also dips its toe into exploring gender stereotypes by portraying Terry as a clingy leech and upon heartbreak, a murderer. Whereas Laurence is portrayed as a remorseless cheater, whom only sees women as objects and has no real interest in long term commitment. These portrayals are nothing groundbreaking but they serve to provide a Hollywood-esque sequence of events.

The narrative structure of the story is a little difficult to comprehend, as it never establishes what forum the speakers are utilizing. My original thought was that they were writing passages into a diary or a blog, that was until Laurence said: “All right, all right, I can see the eager look in your eyes” which serves to break the ‘fourth wall’ in an attempt to speak to the reader directly (French, 2). The medium works well enough to portray the story, but leaves many questions unanswered, such as; why are the speakers acknowledging that there is a reader when they have no clear audience?

What I hope is intentional of the format is that the language and presentation of text feels very cold and almost emotionless as the story progresses. This compliments the theme of heartbreak quite well, as it is noticeable by the end of the story that the text excerpts are getting shorter and shorter, lacking the emotion they once had. This nicely mirrors the relationship as Laurence and Terry find themselves growing apart.

Overall, “Your Place and Mine” leaves much open to interpretation, as a lot of context is left out of its entries, and the forum to which the speakers are speaking into remains unknown. Nevertheless it forces you to use your own imagination to fill in the plot holes and it gives you an opportunity to watch a relationship unfold from two sides as opposed to most stories that only give you access to one.

I have no problem recommending this story to any active readers who enjoy a good romantic piece, just don’t expect to find anything too new plot-wise.

 

Works Cited

French, Nicci. “Your Place and Mine.” We Tell Stories. Penguin, 2008. Web. 15 Feb. 2017. <http://www.wetellstories.co.uk/stories/week4/archive/day2&gt;.

Finot, Christophe. Canal de Bourgogne. Apr. 2005. Wikimedia Commons. Wikipedia. Web. 15 Feb. 2017. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Canal_de_Bourgogne_08.jpg

Return to Sender

The Reunion by John Cheever

Charlie’s Postcard

I chose to use a postcard format because I believe postcards excel at capturing a moment in time, are able to express emotion, and set a scene using only a picture and a brief dialogue. Another reason I chose to use a postcard was to illustrate the extreme shift in opinion that would have undoubtedly occurred before and after Charlie met up with his father.

The postcard expresses extreme optimism and a son who is truly eager to meet his father for the first time since his mom divorced him. “I wish that we could be photographed. I wanted some record of our having been together” Charlie said early on in the story (45). This is of course, before Charlie learns his father’s true nature. This exerpt clearly expresses the hopefulness and joy the reunion had brought Charlie in his first moments with his estranged father.

Whereas upon meeting up and crawling between restaurants, failing to actually eat any lunch but succeeding in making a lot of people’s days worse, Cheever expresses Charlie’s disappointment with the final line of the story: “‘Goodbye, Daddy,’ … and that was the last time I saw my father” (45). Leaving the story off on this bleak note solidifies the notion that Charlie is disappointed with the encounter with his father and goes as far to say that he never even bothers to see his father again, let alone write him another postcard.

Works Cited

Cheever, John. The Reunion. New York: New Yorker, 1962. PDF. The Reunion PDF

Webster, Ed. Patrick Subway Station. 3 Feb. 2012. Wikimedia Commons. Wikipedia. Web.     15 Feb. 2017 <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Partick_subway_station_train_interior.jpg&gt;