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Small Spiral Notebook: Falling
By Laurie Seidler

After reading the first paragraph of Laurie Seidler’s story, I paused and said to myself: This woman is a serious writer. How can one paint such a vivid opening scene with so few words? The answer is a spark of inspiration followed by lots of hard work that’s guided by experience. A real writer whittles away at their story until there’s nothing left except the yarn itself. That’s what we have in “Falling”. The bare essentials are all that’s left and yet they’re able to say, or suggest, so much.

“Falling” is the story of a woman, 30s, divorced, living a quiet, solitary life in a cottage by the sea. She attracts the affections of a young, Japanese surfer named Yoshi. At first she’s unresponsive but he persists and she seems powerless to resist his sweet advances.

Things happen as they’re want to do between men and women. She can’t see what’s she doing with this boy and in her condition, in her condition. His visa is expiring. He wants to teach her to surf. Again she resists but by now we know how well that works. Out there in the ocean, things change.

In some ways I think short stories can be somewhere between a novel and a poem. There are no verses or rhyme scheme but there’s often symbolism. This short story has lots of symbolism. Objects in nature (the ocean, waves, wind, the earth, the moon) take on other meanings. I’ve read this piece a couple of times and I’ve got a pretty good idea of what these things mean to me. But you should read the story for yourself and find your own meanings.

I suppose one could complain and say there should be more to this story. The characters should be better described and more fully developed. We should know more about the time and the place where the story unfolds. But if you’re a serious writer you can cut that all away as long as you leave the truth. That’s what I found here.

About the Reviewer
Born in El Paso, Texas in 1970, Peter Simon moved with his family first to Michigan before settling in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1976. He spent his formative years there and attended the University of Minnesota, where he majored in International Relations. After college, Peter traveled extensively and knocked around from job to job before returning to school in 2000 to study video production. In 2003, he married his long-time girlfriend, Kalpana Devaraj. The couple moved to New York in 2004. Peter works as a freelance video and film professional while Kalpana is a pathology resident at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital. They live on the Upper West Side with their two cats. Peter has been writing since 2005. He has also produced a documentary film about the revolution and invasion of Grenada.

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