The Killers Review

I equally enjoyed and disliked this story. One of the best aspects of the writing style is the intricate use of dialogue. Sometimes stories with a lot of dialogue can lose the ‘flavor’ or overall ‘attitude’ of the story. Also authors run the risk of becoming so caught up in the dialogue that bits and pieces of the original story can become lost. Hemmingway’s story does not lose any attitude or the original aspects of the characters. For this story, the characters are developed through the dialogue. In fact, characters should be developed through dialogue and I think we can all learn from this particular story just how to do that. However, on the flipside of the dialogue, at times it took such a precedent in the story that I forgot some of the basic descriptions I was told at the beginning of the story. I found myself returning to differnet parts of the story as I read. So, alas, the question I take from reading this story is how much of both dialogue and description does it take to create a poignant story without overwhelming the reader?

The story is definitely a great example of building tension. The entire time you read, you are wondering when and if the owner is going to come through the door and get shot. The ending lets you know that eventually the guy is going to get shot. After I put the story down, I was disturbed because though I knew what was going to happen, I still wanted to read about it for closure. Why closure, I’m not sure. I guess because I’m just use to stories giving me an ending of some kind and not leaving me hanging. I liked how this story takes place on two sets, mainly one, that being the diner. By having the story stay in one place for a good portion of the story, you are able to create a specific scene and feel to the overall plot and characters. I think it would be a good challenge to write a short story that happens in one place for the entire story. It would be interesting to see what plot and characters I could develop.