Monkeybicycle Front to Back - Part 4: Math by Kim Chinquee

I like Kim Chinquee quite a bit. In my favorite Kim Chinquee stories, the austerity of Chinquee's prose belies the emotional complexity of the characters' situations. And she often writes killer last lines.

"Math" is not my favorite Chinquee story, but it might be my own limitations as a reader... I didn't quite "get" it, beyond the competency of the writing and description of the surface actions.

This character seems to be feeling dislocated... perhaps even apathetic and disaffected.

I thought there was something strange about the classroom, which at times seemed like a classroom of college-aged artists studying things like collaboration, and at other times seemed like a group of elementary school students doing crafts. I kind of like this ambiguity.

I may not have read enough to say this, but it seems like as Kim Chinquee becomes more established, she is writing more about her life as a writer. Some of these stories are quite good. I especially liked "Grade Books" from Quick Fiction 14, in which a writing professor denied tenure refuses to forfeit her office before the designated date.

I like the last line of "Math" quite a bit. As she often does, Chinquee ends with a somewhat oblique but vivid image-

"I smiled at the instructor and helped the boy, eagerly cutting, watching them paste."

I like the sound of the word "paste" inside my mouth.