Thursday, April 25, 2019

Candles in the Bottom of the Pool by Max Evans


“Aleta, the world is strange. Mankind has forgotten what was always true—that a clean breath is worth more than the most elegant bank building. A new flower opening is more beautiful than a marble palace. All things rot. Michelangelo’s sculpture is even now slowly breaking apart. All empires vanish. The largest buildings in the world will turn back to sand. The great paintings are cracking, the negatives of the best films ever made are right now losing their color and becoming brittle. The tallest mountains are coming down a rock at a time. Only thoughts live. You are only what you think.”

This is one unusual story. It is beautifully written, rife with observations as the above will attest, and…well, the arc of the story literally shocked me. I can’t say I know what to make of the story as a whole; I am left with questions.

Usually such elliptical fare leaves me cold, but this bit of outre perspective and savage acts left me pondering its meaning. 

I don’t mean for that to sound pretentious, simply a fact. 

An unusual work of art.

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