‘For A Long Time, This Was Griselda’s Story’ by Anthony Doerr

For A Long Time, This Was Griselda’s Story by Anthony Doerr, 1999

The magic trick:

Mixing realism and weirdness in a way that fools the reader into going along with a very strange story as if it was all just normal, which it kind of is

Really, really liked this one. It’s odd. The story hinges on a popular, star athlete in a Boise high school running away with a traveling circus performer whose act showcases his ability to eat metal.

You just take it in. The concerns of the community, the family dynamics – all very realistic. So it’s OK if the mechanism driving all of the themes happens to be a man who swallows metal. Sure, why not?

And that’s quite a trick on Doerr’s part.

The selection:

The metal eater sat smugly, napkin around his neck. He took the knife and fork in his little pink fists. He held them against the table, upright, ends down, like a petulent child awaiting supper. Then, with a certainty and casualness that was almost appalling, he took the knife and slid it down his throat and closed his mouth behind it. He sat, natty, unruffled, staring at the crowd, some of whom missed the feat entirely and were only now swinging their heads around as brothers or uncles tugged their sleeves. The metal eater had a fraction of a smile on his lips. His Adam’s apple was the only part of him that moved. It jerked freakishly up and down and side to side, like a muscled and angry monkey chained by one ankle.

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