Xmas, Jamaica Plain by Melanie Rae Thon, 1995
The magic trick:
Grace among a sad, desperate plot
This one is set at Christmas in Boston. It’s not full of warm Christmas cheer, though.
It’s the story of two young sex workers, strung out, breaking into a house to escape the cold on Christmas night.
The first-person narration is a high-wire act, telling a heartbreakingly dark tale but managing to also capture a certain beauty about life at the same time. There is love and grace in this story, even as nothing in the plot would signal as much. I think the main reason it works is that the narrator addresses her story to the owner of the house. It’s where the grace lies, somehow.
And that’s quite a trick on Thon’s part.
The selection:
In this house, Emile found your red dress, your slippery stockings. He was happy, I swear.
So why did he end up on the floor?
I’m not going to tell you; I don’t know.
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