A Good Hand by Sabat

[Graeme]

A Good Hand by Sabat

A poker face can hide so much.

 

 

:nuke: :nuke: Spoilers Below!!! :nuke: :nuke:

[Graeme]

Essentially a reminiscence about the narrators childhood, Sabat has pack a lot into a short space. I could appreciate the narrators comments about the family home being a war zone at times. Cynicism can be taught early in an environment like that. I suspect that it wasn't really as bad as the narrator made out, because he made the comment about how having an imaginary friend would be an almost fatal flaw -- but he played with dolls. I think he was really the victim in the family, and that bred a degree of distrust and self-centeredness.

 

Strangely, I think the narrator's sex education was pretty similar to mine. It was almost all from the school yard -- I remember a couple of times someone furtively drawing a copy of Playboy from their school bag to show the other kids. In that era there was little in the way of formal or semi-formal sex education.

 

Who is the narrator, really? He comes over in part as being bitter, but I think there's more to it than that. His friend Ben and his partner Michael show that there's more to him than just a bitchy old queen, which was my initial impression. I think I can see him more clearly in the reflection from his friends than in his own words.

 

Thanks, Sabat -- I think there's more in this than is obvious on the surface

[Dolores Esteban]

Not just a little story. This is a story you should give a second thought.

 

[Richard Lyon]

This is a most interesting piece. The free association style is an imaginative approach that lets us see the inner workings of the mind of the narrator. His quirky personality makes that a refreshing experience.

[David McLeod]

The notion of popularity measured by the number of one

[corvus]

Not much of a story in terms of a plot, but amazing in terms of voice, detail, character... Very convincing, and, as someone mentioned, definitely worth a second thought.

[kitten]

I very much enjoyed all the imagery in this story. Some of that imagery is so unusual that it took me by surprise and made me look at things from new perspective. Sometimes the narrator was describing things that were familiar to me but he described it as if he were an anthropologist from different culture. The little details that most people don't notice are not only spotlighted by the narrator, they are also made significant.

 

Initially, the unusual punctuation made certain passages difficult for me to follow on a first reading, but I got used to it, and I guess that this is a technique to draw the reader into the thoughts of the narrator. After all, most of us don't insert punctuation into our thoughts!

 

Who is the narrator, really? He comes over in part as being bitter, but I think there's more to it than that. His friend Ben and his partner Michael show that there's more to him than just a bitchy old queen, which was my initial impression. I think I can see him more clearly in the reflection from his friends than in his own words.

 

For me, the view was occasionally cynical, maybe slightly jaundiced, but it came acroos that the narrator was sardonic rather than bitter. I can imagine a wry smile on his face.

 

Who is the narrator, really? My feeling is this: The story is all about bluff, having a poker face, and living behind a mask. All that is a protective shell that he's built up as a defence mechanism. Eventually, the narrator may have ended up bluffing himself and being (at least partially) convinced by his own mask. However, there are chinks in this defence and (as Greame says), through Michael and Ben we get a glimpse of what might be the real personality of the narrator.

 

As others have said, there is a lot more to this than is obvious on the surface.

 

Thanks Sabat!

 

Kit

[jfalkon]

Definetly an interesting story. It was like listening to a story teller or even a stand-up comedian. There's not much else I can add.

[C James]

Very interesting! I too loved the imagery.

 

My take is that the narrator is bitter, and the poker is the metaphor for his hiding it, as evidenced by the remark concerning not playing poker like he used to: he;s becoming less and less inclined to hid his opinions.

[Sabat]

Thanks for all the comments, I really appreciate them. The story evolved from what was originally going to be something which compared each period in the main characters life to a different game, however as it progressed I found that I was having to compromise it in order to make it into what I would consider a short story so I decided to focus on one chapter of his life and one 'game'. I'm glad you enjoyed it, I wasnt sure it was going to work and I did consider not submitting it for the anthology so your supportive comments have been great.

[Canuk]

once again really late with the comments.

 

This is one of the best I have read. :2thumbs:From that very first line, a truly GREAT opening, you had me. The imagery the links between the images, the growing up the clsh between what's happening what you want to happen and what you know will happen is brilliant.

the contrasts between Michael's life and development and the narrator's brillinatly done. the imaginary friend..... I could go on, it is all wonderful Very enjoyable.