Ann Beattie, "Find and Replace"

Ann’s not too happy Mom found a new man to live with.

(from Follies)

“Ann!” she said. “Oh, are you exhausted? Was the flight terrible?”

It’s the subtext that depresses me: the assumption that to arrive anywhere you have to pass through Hell. In fact, you do.

A cool, quiet little story about moving on. This world is a comfortable place to be in. Complicated but not soo much so, charming but oddly blunt. There’s a little bit of meta haunting this thing; the title refers to the narrator’s using real life in her fiction by changing the names. f course, this character’s name is Ann, so it’s not a courtesy she extends to herself, or to us, I guess. Anyway, I can take meta in small doses, I guess. I liked this story. Read it here.

2 thoughts on “Ann Beattie, "Find and Replace"

  1. Anonymous

    I love Ann Beattie, this story and your blog! “Find and Replace” is such a fine, small story. Sometimes that’s all I want or need: a fine, small story.

    Thanks for a great blog!

    Signed, A lover of short stories!

    Reply
  2. Jonathan Harrington

    Just found this site today on the same day I read Ann Beattie’s story “Find and Replace.” It’s a simple and moving little story. Beattie’s work reminds me so much of Alice Adams who does not seem to have much of a following anymore (or does she?) I wonder if women write better short stories than men?

    I Read a Short Story Today is a wonderful idea for a Blog…thanks.

    Jonathan Harrington

    Reply

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