Annie Proulx, "Tits-Up in a Ditch"
The sad story of Dakotah, abandoned at birth, raised by jerks, alone in motherhood, sent to war. (The New Yorker, Summer Fiction Issue, June 9 and 16, 2008)
Dakotah's life story is endlessly sad, just relentlessly harsh and luckless. Still, it's doesn't feel like life is piling on. Thanks to Annie Proulx's calm, well paced story telling, it still comes off kinda realistic-ish. Beautiful.
posted by Patrick Rapa @ 11:59 PM
6 Comments:
This is one of the most memorable and moving short stories I've ever read. And one of the most vibrant anti-war stories ever.
The ending stunned me. I wasn't expecting it and I can't get it out of my mind. I'm telling all friends to read it.
--Graci7
This story really grabed me. It was about a month ago that I read another one of her short stories "Those Old Cowboy Songs" 100 year apart but says something about the human condition. Its a tuff life.
John
The ending particularly is too poignant and left me speechless for a moment.
I enjoyed the abruptness of the ending, the gruff tone in general.
I began to read this short story and when I got to the bottom of page 84, the last two lines were:
" In school, she learned again what she already knew: that she was differ-"
Nowhere in my issue is this story continued. I sent an email to the New Yorker and they wrote back saying they would send me a replacement issue. It arrived this week and is exactly like the first one. Where did you all find the ending of the story?!?
Over these summer months since I read it, that story's haunted me. A sad story, so well told.
Not sure I understood the ending. Might she be walking away instead of dealing with them? Do you think she stayed, or left? I hope she didn't stay.
She's still real to me.
And how I'd like to knock the heads together of those "guardians" of hers, her grandmother and Verl. Idiots!
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