Sea Oak

"Sea Oak" is definitely a story I can say that I have never read anything like before. I appreciate that there weren't cliches or a story that I have heard over and over. I enjoyed the wacky weirdness of this story and how it kept climbing towards an even weirder story. I love stories with crazy magical realism-esque plots. The writing specifically didn't have any defining qualities for me. It didn't add anything to the story, although that could have been the point Saunders was going for. The writing could reflect the characters and their crappy lives and then Aunt Bernie comes in and the writing continues mirroring this family. It felt very average which is fine because the plot twists kept overpowering the writing anyway. I had no attachment to the characters whatsoever and I never felt like I knew them which I presume is difficult to convey in a short story, but still. Aunt Bernie was the only character I could picture in my mind. She was very distinct and I feel like everyone knows that kind of person in their family. The imagery was hard to picture of the narrator, Min, and Jade because I felt as if they were one-dimensional in their dialogue. Although the dialogue and writing were not my favorite, I still loved the plot.

I can say that the ending was very impactful in how it ended so suddenly. I wanted to know what happened and if they ever gained their "less crappy shit hole of a house." I really appreciated that the characters just went through a traumatic occurrence with one of their relatives and then life went on. I felt as if I were a part of their family because I knew the secret they were hiding. Where as the beginning and end would seem similar to an outsider of this odd family, the reader could feel as if they left this story with a secret and they could take the line, "Some people got everything and I got nothing" and ponder it for days afterward.