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AGNI: The Sightseer
by Sari Wilson

“Sightseer” by Sari Wilson, is the story of Lewis, a rich American exploring Bangkok. But even as he is in another country, we see all of the many expectations and assumptions he brings with him. This story reflects both the main character’s prejudices as well as the reader’s. In large part a story about buying a wife from a third world country, Sari Wilson does a good job narrating how Americans often think of the rest of the world. With clichéd arrogance that rings sadly true, Lewis decides to buy a wife on a whim.

Lewis’s decision to purchase his wife is founded on his perception of women and relationships. As he thinks about buying a wife, he “is reminded of something his father said after his mother asked him for a divorce. ‘In order to really love a woman, you must possess her.’ Then his father had cried, an abrupt heave of tears. ‘But, then again, she may not let you love her.’” For Lewis, a relationship is all about possession, ownership; somehow he never seems to fully grasp the second half of his father’s observation. He lives in a world where the rich can buy the poor, where men can own women. It’s something exciting, an idea that is unspoken but intoxicating; it’s a fantasy. More than anything though, this story shows how that fantasy can creep into the average man’s consciousness. This story is an echo of those traditional American values where men and women knew their places, where men could rule a household and be lord over his domain. That what intrigues Lewis, pulling him closer to the story’s climax.

At the story’s conclusion, the narrator asks, “He made an honorable deal. He did, didn’t he?” It feels like something unfair happened, like he deserves better. The narrator doesn’t judge this protagonist; the narrator doesn’t need to.

Read the story and let us know what you think.

About the Reviewer
Jeremy Trimble is a graduate student at Sacramento State University in California. He is a writer working on his first novel.

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