The Flints of Memory Lane (Fragile things week 2) by Neil Gaiman

As usual with these group reads a spoiler warning is in full effect. They are discussion posts rather than reviews.

Things that are “story-shaped” are explainable. Explicable even. But real life is not always so. Things happen at random and the everything has consequences that may not be visible right now, but some day, to some person they might. In stories, however, there is the expectation that if we read about a gun in the first paragraph, well, that gun should be used by the end. I know, I am mangling Chekhov there, but you get the idea I hope. In real life that gun may go safely back into its drawer and never be used, never be seen again. Fiction asks that we put it into play, why else would the writer have drawn your attention to it in the first place.

So by pointing out the fact that this is not story-shaped Gaiman her is encouraging us to be more accepting. To try and ignore that voice that says the story will be resolved and our questions will be answered. Instead we end this story with the feeling that something else was going on. Something that we will never know about, but that might affect us all the same.

I liked it. A nice sense of unease, and yet there is no reason for it.