{"id":722,"date":"2022-05-28T05:54:25","date_gmt":"2022-05-28T05:54:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/wordpress\/greenblotter\/?p=722"},"modified":"2022-05-28T05:54:25","modified_gmt":"2022-05-28T05:54:25","slug":"maybe-its-a-good-thing-in-a-way-review-of-kyle-seibels-as-planned-we-stopped-for-sandwiches-flash-frog-may-16-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/greenblotter\/2022\/05\/28\/maybe-its-a-good-thing-in-a-way-review-of-kyle-seibels-as-planned-we-stopped-for-sandwiches-flash-frog-may-16-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201c\u2018Maybe it\u2019s a good thing in a way\u2019\u201d: Review of Kyle Seibel\u2019s \u201cAs Planned, We Stopped for Sandwiches\u201d (Flash Frog, May 16, 2022)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

reviewed by Isaac Fox<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Flash<\/figure>\n\n\n

Kyle Seibel\u2019s flash story \u201cAs Planned, We Stopped for Sandwiches\u201d begins in a mundane place: a St. Louis deli, where a family has stopped to eat on their way to Chicago.<\/span><\/p>\n

The opening line, which does little more than lay out that time and place, contains no real tension. The second adds a tiny stressor: the deli is very busy, and the family will have to wait for their food. The next set of paragraphs introduce a series of slightly larger troubles: the narrator\u2019s parents disagree over whether to treat his six-year-old brother as a young child, and his father seems a little too <\/em>upset when they can\u2019t get the sandwiches they want.<\/span><\/p>\n

About half of the story passes before its true tension comes to light. They\u2019re traveling to Chicago because the father planned to receive an experimental surgery there, presumably for cancer; outside this St. Louis deli, he has decided to tell his wife and kids that he will be opting out of the surgery.<\/span><\/p>\n

Genuine emotional stakes are uncommon in flash fiction, simply because of the compactness of the form. However, Seibel\u2019s story proves an exception. He develops this family through their rapport and their micro-politics\u2014the disagreement over how old a six-year-old should act, the father\u2019s brief appeal to the narrator to side with him and help persuade his mother. These details bring enough nuance to Seibel\u2019s characters and their relationships that the big reveal comes with a jolt, and this family\u2019s reactions to one member\u2019s impending death are layered with genuine emotion.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAs Planned, We Stopped for Sandwiches\u201d feels especially crushing because it never leaves its mundane world. The characters remain awkward, fearful, and messy until the very end. They are not eloquent, and no one becomes a hero or martyr, as dying characters sometimes do. There are no red sunsets here, no hints of romanticism.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are, however, selfless acts, small and large. The deli gives the father some beef shoulder on the house when they learn what he\u2019s going through. His wife slowly, reluctantly accepts his decision.<\/span><\/p>\n

In \u201cAs Planned, We Stopped for Sandwiches,\u201d death comes randomly. We can\u2019t stop it, and we might not even learn that much from it. All we have is humanity, for better and for worse.<\/span><\/p>\n

Flash Frog<\/em> publishes one new piece of flash fiction each week on its website, https:\/\/flash-frog.com\/<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Isaac Fox is a student at Lebanon Valley College, where he majors in English and creative writing. He spends his free time reading and writing things that aren\u2019t assigned, shooting pictures, and playing the clarinet. His fiction and photography have appeared in\u00a0Rune Bear<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Heart of Flesh<\/em>\u00a0magazines, as well as\u00a0Green<\/em>\u00a0Blotter<\/em>\u2019s 2021 issue. You can find him on Twitter at @IsaacFo80415188.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

reviewed by Isaac Fox Kyle Seibel\u2019s flash story \u201cAs Planned, We Stopped for Sandwiches\u201d begins in a mundane place: a St. Louis deli, where a family has stopped to eat […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3,5],"class_list":["post-722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-isaac-fox","tag-micro-review","clearfix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/greenblotter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/greenblotter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/greenblotter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/greenblotter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/greenblotter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/greenblotter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/greenblotter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/greenblotter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/greenblotter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}