Comments on: Issue 21 Fiction: Hunters: Author Interview and Discussion http://www.fringemagazine.org/blog/issue-21-fiction-hunters-author-interview-and-discussion/ The Noun That Verbs Your World Tue, 07 Feb 2012 18:40:26 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.2 hourly 1 By: mipsesque http://www.fringemagazine.org/blog/issue-21-fiction-hunters-author-interview-and-discussion/#comment-25188 mipsesque Thu, 14 Apr 2011 05:20:19 +0000 http://www.fringemagazine.org/?p=4635#comment-25188 I agree with everything you wrote. Great stuff. gaming chair rocker I agree with everything you wrote. Great stuff.

gaming chair rocker

]]> By: Bob http://www.fringemagazine.org/blog/issue-21-fiction-hunters-author-interview-and-discussion/#comment-6149 Bob Mon, 22 Feb 2010 22:03:16 +0000 http://www.fringemagazine.org/?p=4635#comment-6149 On the surface, this is simply a story of three New Jersey hunters, their wives, and their sons who rent a rustic lake house in the Maine woods. "Hunters" also tells of the Maine Guide whom they hire. But underlying the plain events of their vacation days is a very intrusive layer of frustration--the narrator's frustration. She, as the house renter to the hunters, tells not so much about hunters as she does about herself. She is perhaps confused, perhaps angry, but she is surely frustrated--frustrated with the hunters and frustrated with her loneliness. She looks upon the hunters in a decidedly negative fashion. She sees them as both somewhat insensitive and incompetent. They are only able to hunt and kill an animal that moves at a cow's pace. They indeed do kill a bobcat but only because it has been cornered and forced up a tree, making it an easy target. The boys are seen as soft (the Maine Guide's words) because they cannot endure the long days and the cold very well. One boy shows his inexperience by shooting a dog to its death, thinking that its movement was that of a deer. The men are seen as dangerously holding their weapons in a very casual style. The narrator is frustrated with more than the hunters. The woods are lonely and dark, and so seems her existence nearby the lake. She longs for male companionship, and when she decides to ask the Maine Guide in for coffee, they soon begin to embrace and kiss. She desires him, but she withdraws. He senses this, and withdraws himself despite her urges to continue. She has lost the moment. She is sensitive to loneliness, understanding and feeling for the wives as they await the return of their husbands and sons. She reflects on her deceased husband. She knows about solitude, but she seems incapable of getting closer than she already is to anyone except for her dogs. The woods present an apt metaphor for the narrator's state--deep and lonely. She ends her tale by conjecturing how she would respond if the Maine Guide's female companion sitting in his truck outside her house were to ask her why she lives as she does. She would answer that she has no idea why she lives this way. This is a very beautifully written short story told with simple vocabulary and sentences. But underneath is a story layered with involved emotions that go far beyond the hunters on vacation. On the surface, this is simply a story of three New Jersey hunters, their wives, and their sons who rent a rustic lake house in the Maine woods. “Hunters” also tells of the Maine Guide whom they hire. But underlying the plain events of their vacation days is a very intrusive layer of frustration–the narrator’s frustration. She, as the house renter to the hunters, tells not so much about hunters as she does about herself. She is perhaps confused, perhaps angry, but she is surely frustrated–frustrated with the hunters and frustrated with her loneliness.
She looks upon the hunters in a decidedly negative fashion. She sees them as both somewhat insensitive and incompetent. They are only able to hunt and kill an animal that moves at a cow’s pace. They indeed do kill a bobcat but only because it has been cornered and forced up a tree, making it an easy target. The boys are seen as soft (the Maine Guide’s words) because they cannot endure the long days and the cold very well. One boy shows his inexperience by shooting a dog to its death, thinking that its movement was that of a deer. The men are seen as dangerously holding their weapons in a very casual style.
The narrator is frustrated with more than the hunters. The woods are lonely and dark, and so seems her existence nearby the lake. She longs for male companionship, and when she decides to ask the Maine Guide in for coffee, they soon begin to embrace and kiss. She desires him, but she withdraws. He senses this, and withdraws himself despite her urges to continue. She has lost the moment. She is sensitive to loneliness, understanding and feeling for the wives as they await the return of their husbands and sons. She reflects on her deceased husband. She knows about solitude, but she seems incapable of getting closer than she already is to anyone except for her dogs.
The woods present an apt metaphor for the narrator’s state–deep and lonely. She ends her tale by conjecturing how she would respond if the Maine Guide’s female companion sitting in his truck outside her house were to ask her why she lives as she does. She would answer that she has no idea why she lives this way.
This is a very beautifully written short story told with simple vocabulary and sentences. But underneath is a story layered with involved emotions that go far beyond the hunters on vacation.

]]> By: Asheley http://www.fringemagazine.org/blog/issue-21-fiction-hunters-author-interview-and-discussion/#comment-5894 Asheley Fri, 05 Feb 2010 19:26:35 +0000 http://www.fringemagazine.org/?p=4635#comment-5894 I live near where this story is set, so it really appealed to me from a regional standpoint. The author really captured the feeling of the main character's aloneness, and also the experience of the native watching the curious antics of the tourists. I live near where this story is set, so it really appealed to me from a regional standpoint. The author really captured the feeling of the main character’s aloneness, and also the experience of the native watching the curious antics of the tourists.

]]> By: Jill http://www.fringemagazine.org/blog/issue-21-fiction-hunters-author-interview-and-discussion/#comment-4101 Jill Mon, 07 Dec 2009 19:41:00 +0000 http://www.fringemagazine.org/?p=4635#comment-4101 I really enjoyed reading this piece. The description of the setting was really evocative--I like how the barren cold of the woods stands in as a physical symbol for the narrator's loneliness. I really enjoyed reading this piece. The description of the setting was really evocative–I like how the barren cold of the woods stands in as a physical symbol for the narrator’s loneliness.

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