Samantha Hunt's story time (Monday Class)

At first, I was confused after reading "All Hands " and I thought her book title "The Dark Dark" gives a scary vibe. However,  after her explanation in Monday class, it gave me a clear understanding of her stories and why did she choose her title. I really like some of her life experiences and how she connected to her stories.

Reactions - Reading & Greeting

After reading Samantha Hunt's stories and meeting with her today, it was insightful and so inspirational.  I really enjoyed meeting with her.  I love when she was talking about the idea that just because things aren't real doesn't mean they're not important to our everyday lives.  In all her stories the characters reach their moment of darkness, which was exactly why I love that she went with "The Dark Dark" instead of "The Beast" for the title.  Also, with the magic concept, I caught myself being confused in the stories, "Cortes the Killer" and "The House Began to Pitch"because I was waiting for their magic moments.  I was waiting for Beatrice's horse to come from the ice and Ada to do something to Chuck.  "The House Began to Pitch" was very confusing for me in the beginning, but the ending it all ties together about why she'd rather lie about why she left instead of saying the truth.  Ada's story was just all together so powerful and I feel like she is a metaphor that shows her strength to fight through anything, like the hurricane thats formulating in the story.  It's also really interesting now that we've met Samantha Hunt to read her stories and have them open new doors for our reading because now we have a better understanding of her whole process and just the entire motive for all the stories she created that have a piece of her in all of them.

The Dark Dark

Now that you've read the first half of Samantha Hunt's story collection, I wonder how you would characterize the stories. Several of them seem to have a magic quality. A woman and her husband turn into deer in "The Beast" a dog comes back to life in "The Yellow." How did you react to this magic in what seems like, otherwise, a realistic story?

What stylistic things did you notice about the stories? The intros/conclusions? The dialogue? (Notice how she gives us one half of a phone conversation on p. 12.) The plots? What about the role of babies and/or animals in the stories? What do they seem to symbolize? Did you recognize that "All Hands" is told from two different perspectives? If not, reread it. The first half is told from the perspective of a man, the dock worker who falls over the side of the boat. And the second half is told from the perspective of the woman who works at the high school where the teenagers are all getting pregnant. Why is it told this way?

Monday's Class

I hope you all had a great spring break. Just a reminder: Tomorrow, we will meet in S-112 for Samantha Hunt's reading. In preparation, please read up through p. 125 of her collection of fiction.

Samantha Hunt

At first reading these three stories in Samantha Hunt's, "Dark Dark", I was so utterly confused. I was trying to find a way to connect the chapters from either one character, or even a scenario. Then when I read the back that they’re all short stories I was like, wow duh.  My favorite one is “The Beast”, I love that in the end her husband ended up turning into a deer too and it was just a fun read. The other ones seemed a little perplexing to me. In “The Story of” I was thrown off when it went from first the sisters point of view and then switched to Ted’s girlfriend. The whole thing didn’t really add up to me and I feel like being confused I missed the whole point. In “All Hands” the same problem happened when we went from the ship and the secretary’s boy-toy and then back to the 13 pregnant girls. I think I need to re-read all of them and try to wipe clean that they’re all individual short stories to get a better understanding.

some questions to ask Samantha Hunt

Every writer has reason to write. Some of them write to escape from reality, expressing their feelings, or they just enjoy it. As for myself, writing is therapeutic, it helps to ease my thoughts and many are negatives. Therefore, I want to ask Samantha Hunt, what made her become a writer?  What challenges did she face while becoming a writer? Where did she get her ideas from? What advice does she have for us, young writers? What lessons have you learned as a writer? and finally Where did you get your inspiration? 

Samantha Hunt- The Dark Dark

Her stories are complex and you need to connect with the main character to understand their thoughts and emotions. However, I need to reread all of three stories to get very clear understanding.  I kept getting lost at the endings, such as "The Story Of". At first, I got confused if Norma really did murder Dirty Norma, then I read it again to get a better understanding. After reading the second time, I got it from my perspective, Norma is imagining to kill dirty Norma.  I got very confused in "All Hands" and the case about 13 girls was pregnant. Lastly "Beast", this one is my favorite because it is very unusual and a strange plot. Honestly, I find it very interesting and enjoyable to read than other two and I loved the ironic ending when her husband became a deer too.