Pondering...

When I was younger, I always loved Nancy Drew mysteries; now that I am older, I devour books such as A Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Gailbraith. The cliffhangers abundant throughout mystery novels make them impossible to put down. They leave the reader wondering “why?” or “how?” after each sentence. This thought-provoking characteristic draws me to mystery stories. While not a novel, Sharon Krinsky’s collection titled Mystery Stories is no different.

While each of Krinsky’s stories is only a brief paragraph, they capture my attention. It intrigues me how she can illustrate an image or conflict in no more than five sentences. Upon first glance, the stories seem to be relatively straightforward. Krinsky is simply telling her readers about something that happened. However, she is careful never to quite reveal the full story. With each piece, she leaves me wondering and guessing about the significance of minute details. My favorite example of this was Krinsky’s piece “The Red Coats:”

I wear two red coats to a party. I deposit them on the bed. When I go back to get them, one of them is gone. The one that is there is missing its top layer. It is not red anymore—it’s grey with a black lining.

In this piece, Krinsky leaves a number of unanswered questions. The most prevalent in my mind are, “what happened to the one red coat and the top layer of the other?” and “why would someone only take the top layer of a coat?” Krinsky’s deliberate elimination of details leaves the reader to speculate. Was the man remembering wrong? Why would he wear “two red coats” in the first place? What about the missing coat? Could someone have mistaken the coat for his own? What makes him think the grey and black coat is his? There are infinite possibilities.

Despite the inconclusiveness of “The Red Coats,” I like it. My mind will keep coming back to this story, thinking of the many unanswered questions. These Mystery Stories are very memorable. Whether or not a reader likes them, he or she will not be able to read them without pondering the puzzling details.