Carrying mother on my back
Just for a joke.
Three steps: then weeping—
She's so light.
--Ishikawa Takuboku
Embedded Files
Week 6
Class Ground Rules
Read all the assignments before class.
Keep yourself on mute unless called on.
Raise your hands electronically.
Focus your comments only on the question at hand rather than straying to other parts of the story.
Refrain from offering a review of the whole story or jumping to the end.
Try to support your comments by referring to details from the text.
Listen to and respond to others with respect.
READ (at least twice): Elizabeth McCracken, "Something Amazing," (in Thunderstruck & Other Stories, Dial Press/Random House, 2014). PDF posted below.
A mother, haunted by the ghost of her little girl, finds solace in the company of a neglected neighborhood boy.
Think About:
The ghost of Missy Goodby, and the neighborhood children who keep it alive.
The mother, Joyce, and her reaction to losing a child.
Joyce's son Gerry and the role he plays in the household.
Johnny Macker and his brother Santos.
Joyce's transformation.
The unusual style of narration.
Click on the top right corner below to expand the story.
Elizabeth McCracken - Something Amazing.pdfPurely Optional
Watch Elizabeth McCracken read part of "Something Amazing" and discuss Thunderstruck & Other Stories
Listen to a Podcast of Elizabeth McCracken talking about Thunderstruck & Other Stories.
Photo: Mike Minehan
Elizabeth McCracken Biography
Elizabeth McCracken Biography
Born in 1966 in Boston, Massachusetts, Elizabeth McCracken grew up in Newton, Massachusetts, earned a B.A. and M.A. in English from Boston University, an M.F.A. from the University of Iowa, and an M.S. in Library Science from Drexel University. She is married to the novelist Edward Carey. They have a son and daughter. An earlier child died before birth, an experience that formed the basis of McCracken's memoir An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination.
Asked about her frequent combination of tragedy and humor, McCracken explained, “You write the way you think about the world. My motto in times of trouble—and I’m speaking of life, not writing—is no humor is too black. I need humor much more than sympathy or philosophy. Humor reminds you, when you’re flattened by sorrow, that you’re still human.” Read more...
Google Sites
Report abuse