review of meghans story

Meghan’s short story, Anna, is about a widower who is so emotionally disturbed by the death of his wife that he loses his job. He comes in contact via telephone with his dead wife’s mother. The man is reluctant to visit the wife because Anna, his deceased wife, said she was abusive. When he meets her, the mother tells the widower that she tried to protect Anna from her abusive father but for some reason Anna was a daddy’s girl and resented her mother for throwing out her husband after he hit her. I like that the story discusses the narrator’s emotions and ideas beyond just what they are doing. I think that makes the story more personal like your reading a journal entry. It gives us greater insight into whom the main character is as a person. However I think you could display this a little in more subtle manner. Instead of saying that he had a mental breakdown you could describe the real concrete things that happened to him during his mental breakdown. I think this is excellent subject matter for a short story because it is intense. I like that you include some information about the narrator’s daily routine. The description of his wife could possibly be toned down a little bit. All though I believe the dead wife was an excellent woman I think the descriptions of her are a little too fantastic for me. I think this short story could be edited for better character development.