Annette Dunne - chocolate for breakfast
The stories in this collection are based on
Fiction Fact Wishful Thinking
If the multiple forms of writing now in vogue were to be analyzed you would say there's a marvellous sense of freedom. You can write with gay abandon, discard the syntax, punctuation, logic. Just write. But of course it has to ring true, cohere, engage the reader, hold on to him, surprise him in the end.
To explain the use of different styles of writing in this collection of short stories is simply to say the author matched the themes, the emotions being explored, to the story itself. Hence, in a Belfast Story, the sparsity of language indicates the urgency of the situation, emphasising the underlying anxiety that lurked in the characters' minds...the uncertainty that prevailed, they could be held up, threatened, bullied, bombed out of existence. All these fearful thoughts a constancy in their lives.
And so the clipped sentences, single words on a single line, sticcato-like, breathless fear manifesting in the very form itself, the words struggling to comprehend.
SISTER DEAR is somewhat similar in style, but this time almost tongue in cheek.
The young nun sees the futility of the regime she has submitted herself to and the reader feels from the outset that she’s not going to persevere with this way of life. Hence the sense of humour she maintains and the self-deprecating.
CORONA is written in Stream of Consciousness, a magical form that aims at expressing in words the flow of a character’s thoughts and feelings in his own mind, the great example being Molly Bloom’s soliloquy where her thoughts flow in a non-linear fashion indicating continuous, unspoken thoughts and perceptions.
There’s no precise definition of stream of consciousness other than seeing it as a stream flowing every which way, from the outer world into the inner world, as the flow of thoughts of the character have no beginning or end.
So the writer can abandon the conventional rules of syntax and punctuation as thoughts shift from one thing to another in no particular order.
THE DEAL
A young barman is faced with making a life changing choice as he struggles with his conscience weighing up the odds, is it love for the elderly publican’s daughter or an opportunity to have ownership of the pub, that determines his decision.
STRANGER
A mother’s lifelong secret is uncovered when a strange young man takes up lodgings in her house.
A CASE OF PHOTOGRAPHS
The discovery of a case of old photographs leads a family member to investigate a shocking discovery that was uncovered too late in her life time.
DINNER PARTY
An unexpected, surreal experience leads a group of people, unknown to each other, to reveal their inner psyche as they play a game of “continue the story” while sitting around a table in total darkness.
THE BLIZZARD
Caught in a snowstorm up in the mountains two people, who are total strangers to each other, struggle to survive in complete darkness where they can only hear each other’s voices.
THE BET
A young woman, struggling to survive a disintegrating marriage, takes a risk betting her monthly pay cheque on an unknown tennis star. A risk that costs her dearly.
FRAGILE
A successful business woman leaves her job in an Accountancy Firm where she discovered inconsistencies and irregularities. Later she uncovers further scandal in her new place of work.
WINE ON THE WINDOWSILL
An unhappy woman decides to alter her life and adopt a new persona leading her to marriage with an eligible bachelor, a decision that destroys her future.
THAT WAS THE DAY
A bored housewife realises one day while talking out loud to her equally bored cat that her life is too perfect, that she needs to regain her sense of herself and start all over again with purpose and determination.
136 pages paperback
ISBN 978-1-5272-8679-5
