"Shades of Blue" by Claire Mikeson, from 2010 edition of The Oval

The Oval is the annual literary magazine published by the University Montana that features prose, visual art, and poetry submitted by undergraduates. While it's not a professional publication (and therefore technically out of the scope of this assignment), I wanted to review one of the stories I came across via this magazine. Plus I didn't want to waste the $8 I spent on it, haha.

Shades of Blue tells the story of Adele Edwards, a young woman living in the not-so-utopian town of Ashland, Kansas, leading a not-so-ideal life as a bartender at the hole-in-the-wall bar, the Cove, and doing next to nothing to follow her dreams of becoming an artist. Days and nights and bar flys and passing-throughs blur into each other until one night a drunk named Rick stumbles into the Cove. Though he comes off as a tough-as-nails asshole who doesn't really care about much more than his booze, Del finds him coming into the bar nightly and they strike up a friendship of sorts when he begins telling heartfelt stories of the mysterious Gabe. As Rick's stories continue to pour in and Del's intrigue in Gabe's identity increases, she uses Rick's descriptions of his life experiences to inspire her to paint more ferociously than she ever has before, and her passion for art is invigorated. When Gabe's identity is finally revealed and Rick suddenly disappears, the direction of Del's life changes in a dramatic way.

I was very impressed with the characters created in this story, and the author does an excellent job of showing without telling. Certain actions Del undertakes, such as painting the ocean, or words that Rick speaks, such as "Jesus, Christ, I don't have a god damn story", subtle tell more about their respective characters than  blatanat explanations would. There was also a good balance between the participation of these two characters throughout the piece. While Del was technically the main character, they was an equal amount of internal insight and emotional investment in both of them. There were certain specific moments throughout this story that were so key and had an almost cinematic feel to them; the description of the Cove, the man picking his nose in the corner, the specific scenes of Rick's life that Del painted, and when she opens the letter at the end all got to me. The only part of this piece that rubbed me the wrong way was the kiss during Rick and Del's last meeting. It felt out of nowhere, unnecessary, and honestly, kind of gross. It was somewhat expected and alluded to earlier, but I didn't really want to see it play out. The story could have had the same poignant effect without it.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this story, especially to anyone who likes coming-of-age/growing up stories or stories that have a strong sense of place.