A Lifestyle
by Fernando Sorrentino
Date: 2003
Publisher: East of the Web
Reading level: A
Book type: short story
Pages: 6
Format: e-book
Source: http://www.eastoftheweb.com/
A 24-year-old banker finds himself in an unusual predicament forcing him to make some lifestyle changes to survive.
(synopsis from Goodreads)
The first thing I read from this author was the bizarre Chastisement By the Lambs. So I wasn't sure what to expect here. A Lifestyle is a rather absurd story that requires one to suspend disbelief.
A man, on his way to work, breaks off his key in the lock, essentially trapping himself in his own apartment. He tries various things to get free, including calling a locksmith (who refuses to help and subsequently blacklists the guy so no locksmith in the city will help), dropping typewritten pages off the balcony, and yelling (though he's ten floors up, so that doesn't work). Eventually, he resorts to growing his own food and collecting rainwater, resigned to his life locked in his apartment.
There are a couple of things that bothered me about this one. First is his co-workers' reaction... or lack thereof. He calls his workplace and explains the situation. So the people there know why he isn't coming in to work. But do they do anything about it? No. They don't send a rescue party. They don't call the fire department to break the door down with an axe. They apparently do nothing and forget about their former co-worker as he spends the next few decades of his life stuck in his suite. The second thing that irked me was how the guy fed himself. Sorrentino must be a great lover of meat. Chastisement By the Lambs was a wasted opportunity to make a statement about animal agriculture (instead of the lambs rampaging for revenge for being eaten, they just seemed to target wealthy folks for no apparent reason). Here, the narrator goes even further in trying to justify a carnivorous lifestyle by breeding insects and rodents for food... even though he's also growing a perfectly decent plant-based protein (lentils) on his balcony. (He only had fire on days sunny enough that he could use his magnifying glass to light one. So I shudder to think how many times he ate raw rats.)
This story isn't as bad as Chastisement By the Lambs, but it's still pretty ridiculous. I don't know if the author's just trying to be edgy or what... but the premises of his stories are just a little too nonsensical for me to really enjoy.
Plot: 3/5
Characters: 2/5
Pace: 3/5
Writing & Editing: 3/5
Originality: 3/5
Enjoyment: 2/5
Overall Rating: 2.57 out of 5 ladybugs
