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Short Story Saturday: Lost in Translation
In an effort to help myself read more short fiction, I’ve decided to start a new weekly feature—Short Story Saturday! Every Saturday, I’ll give my thoughts on a story from an anthology. I’m currently working my way through Truth & Dare, which came out in May from Running Press.
Short Story: Lost in Translation
Author: Michael Lowenthal
Anthology: Truth & Dare
Year: 2011
Summary: It’s the 1980’s, and Carlos is a politically active high school student. He is mesmerized by Pat, the worst student in his Spanish class. Pat is gorgeous, humorous, and he seems to have noticed Carlos, too. But every time Carlos thinks he’s getting closer to Pat, something happens to push them apart.
My thoughts: Lost in Translation is an incredibly raw story. Michael Lowenthal does a great job getting inside his narrator’s head. Everything Carlos thinks and feels is just so honest that you can’t help but hope for his ultimate happiness. Still, this is more of a bittersweet story than a happy one, which is kind of perfect, because that’s how real life is.
Michael Lowenthal further fleshes out his story by placing it in the 80’s and highlighting events that happened in that time period. It is quite interesting to see a high school kid get so involved in current events. Carlos’s Spanish class, too, plays a bit part in the story, and the teacher is quite entertaining.
