Kim Jae Min Reading Journal Blog

Hunters in the snow, By Tobias Wolff (1981) 7/10   About Tub shooting Kenny, I believe it’s unarguable that we triggered it. Stating his hate toward three separate objects, shooting each of them, and then saying he hates Tub is definitely a severe menace. However, judging by Kenny’s character and the fact that the old farmer asked Kenny to kill the old dog, I believe Kenny wouldn’t have really shot tub. I found all three of these friends as total degenerates. Kenny is a wayward trickster who doesn’t know when to stop messing around. Tub is probably the least bad person in the gang, but he is a liar without self-control. Frank is obviously the worst person. He is a shameless pervert, and always distorts the situation cleverly so he and one other friend gangs up upon another. The three friends in this story showed a very strange form of friendship that functions partly on shared secrets and understanding, but mostly the stronger two allying against the weaker one. I found thi...

 Bullet in the Brain, by Tobias Wolff (1995) 8.5/10 Every detail of the robbers being so cliché while the story itself is everything but cliché was one of the parts I found ironic. The first impression I got from this story was that the author did his best to go totally anti-plot. It also felt like this story was ripped out of a longer one, in which we would probably get a better explanation about Ander’s character. Still, the compact writing did have its own charm. For the first few pages of the story, I felt Ander’s would be a tool the author came up with only to describe a scene he wanted to depict about. He just seemed too extraordinary and made up to be considered as a likable character. This view completely changed when I was done with the story. The author gifted Anders with so much character in the strangest way possible, and I loved it. Anders instantly transcended from a boring crazy guy into a man with decades of memories full of love, dreams and regret. I am surpris...

 The Swimmer, By John Cheever (1964) 7/10 I’ve once read an article about how people who suffer from schizophrenia lives in a world of total delusion. I was terrified that to a schizophrenia patient, everything he thought real and normal suddenly falls apart in a clumsy mess. It seems Ned suffers from a similar problem, which makes him think that he is living a peak life, while he is actually broke. He is living his days in happy, relaxed delusions, only to be struck in the head with the cruel truth every night. If I view Ned as an actual person, I don’t really sympathize with him. He ran away from reality and hid his mind in the past. However, I think Ned is supposed to stand as an example of many things. In a historic point of view, he might be American citizens or America itself, unable to return to the once glorious past anymore, but still grasping for control. Or, his journey may be a symbol of life, a slow, silent tragedy. My favorite part of the story was the evidences...