This week's story is pulled from Richard Russo's short story collection, The Whore's Child, and was selected by my husband, who wanted a piece of the fame and fortune I have generated from my blog.
"Buoyancy" follows Paul and June Snow, a couple in their retirement years, on a long-awaited trip to Martha's Vineyard. Though I doubt it was his intention, it was a perfect story to discuss with my husband, because there are all sorts of interesting themes lurking beneath the surface: love, marriage, gender, and aging.
June once had a breakdown, one in which she revealed to Paul her "almost unbearable regret and sadness," but from my read, June has recovered quite nicely; it is Paul who seems most paranoid that every flinch of June's will result in her next hospitalization. It is June who bravely peels off her bathing suit on the nude beach on Martha's Vineyard. It is June who rescues Paul from his sunburn-induced hallucination.
Paul eventually realizes that, "it was foolish and arrogant...to think you could imagine the truth of another human life," even after decades of marriage. The theme of nakedness runs throughout the story: how we reveal and cover ourselves, particularly from those closest to us. It is a story about the counterintuitive moments of life, when what should get easier becomes harder, when the routes we should know best leave us lost, and how sometimes our own selves can betray us after something as seemingly innocuous as a little too much sun.
The title is worthy of conversation and had me asking whether human beings are buoyant. After some googling I can leave you with this definitive answer: If we don't swim, we sink.
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