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A review by jenniferworrell
Severance by Robert Olen Butler
3.0
Here's the thing. The concept is brilliant: it is believed that a human head stays conscious for 1.5 minutes after decapitation. When excited, a person can speak 160 words per minute. Thus each one of these stories are 240 words (160 x 1.5 = 240). The edges of the pages are ragged. And did anyone else feel like the type of the stories were designed in the shape of a butcher knife? Was that just my sick imagination? Proceeding each tale is the name of a famous decapitated person and an extremely short comment about how exactly they died (beheaded by terrorists, car accident, jealous husband, etc.).
Some of the stories are fascinating because they suggest they know what's coming or they are running from their attacker, for instance. Some others, although they may be obvious to others who know the background of the decap-ee, just seemed like random flash fiction pieces to me, with no tie-in to the theme. Though the prose was skillful and beautiful, because each story was presented with no sentence structure, every one was a 240-word run-on, with nary but a few commas and dashes, trying my patience. When the thoughts of the victims were just memories of childhood, I found my attention flagging. However, there are a few of note that are quite good, including the ones about Ta Chin, Charles H. Stuart and Nicole Brown Simpson, and the gimmick is pretty neat. Honestly, I thought it would make great beat poetry. It's worth a look, especially since you can polish this one off in about a day, and finally, with Chicken, some very weighty questions are finally put to rest.
Also, good idea for a writing exercise. 240 words: the last thoughts of a decapitated person. Go!
Some of the stories are fascinating because they suggest they know what's coming or they are running from their attacker, for instance. Some others, although they may be obvious to others who know the background of the decap-ee, just seemed like random flash fiction pieces to me, with no tie-in to the theme. Though the prose was skillful and beautiful, because each story was presented with no sentence structure, every one was a 240-word run-on, with nary but a few commas and dashes, trying my patience. When the thoughts of the victims were just memories of childhood, I found my attention flagging. However, there are a few of note that are quite good, including the ones about Ta Chin, Charles H. Stuart and Nicole Brown Simpson, and the gimmick is pretty neat. Honestly, I thought it would make great beat poetry. It's worth a look, especially since you can polish this one off in about a day, and finally, with Chicken, some very weighty questions are finally put to rest.
Also, good idea for a writing exercise. 240 words: the last thoughts of a decapitated person. Go!