La Conchita

Reading has remained a favorite pastime of mine since early childhood.  I will read anything, whether they be nutrition labels on food containers or instruction manuals on household appliances.  Sometimes I even read the FBI warnings that come on the screen when I play a DVD.
  
But as a reader of fiction, I have generally favored the short story over the long novel.  At college, I took several courses in creative writing with the late Kay Boyle, whose own short stories I have admired, along with those of H.E.Bates, Jorge Luis Borges, and many others of that generation of writers from the middle of the last century.

When the New Yorker shows up in the mailbox, I first check the table of contents to see what is listed for the week's fiction offering.  (Only later do I read the magazine's coverage of the latest political revelation in Washington, or its investigation of the latest humanitarian crisis.)

In the December 12 issue, I am pleased to find T. Coraghessan Boyle's fast-paced short story "La Conchita", set against the disastrous mudslide on the Southern California coast last year. A wonderful read, it satisfies in a few pages all the elements of a good short story, with fine characterization, a clear point of view, a neat plot, and a very human message.