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  1. Granta MagazineAnthony Veasna So1/13/2053 min
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    Granta Magazine
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    • bill
      Top reader of all time
      4 years ago

      I can't stop thinking about this story that I read last week.

      Just like Three Women of Chuck's Donuts, another story by the same author, the reader is dropped into a Khmer-owned small business from the perspective of the second generation, the children of the owners.

      These are profoundly tragic stories, but they're not all pain. In fact, this one's chock-full of hot sex lol

      • vunderkind4 years ago

        Surprisingly hot sex lmao. Every time I tried to meditate on Dad's life, I was suddenly thrown in some back-of-car sex with Paul.

        'Tis a rather melancholic story, and I like how the character realizes belatedly that Dad was silently supporting the family just as much as he was supporting Ohm Young - younger people who should know and do better, but essentially fed off the sickly shop, burdening it, while The Shop (a metonymy for Dad himself) carried on wordlessly buying them time in the world.

        'Oun. Worry about yourself. Okay? The Shop is only here to help you.’

        Poignant.

        • bill
          Top reader of all time
          4 years ago

          Woot! Stoked you read this!

          What is work? Why do we work?

          Deep down, we all know it’s not about money. That’s the big illusion. But any attempt to answer those questions is like walking through a minefield with money-related bombs hidden all over the place.

          The narrator doesn’t give a damn about money. Yet he swirls in this soup of people and obligations, and, eventually... it all consumes him?! So rough. I wanted to cry at the end but I was too frozen by the overall wildness of that last scene.

          Now back to the important topic of Paul’s scorching hotness. Jeeeeez. Is he anything more than his sex appeal? Or is that the point?

          • vunderkind4 years ago

            Lmao. Now that you mention it - Paul was quite simply a sex object. I hadn't even thought of it. They didn't even let us know the outcome of his coming out.

            • bill
              Top reader of all time
              4 years ago

              Then Paul came to my thoughts again – I couldn’t help it – how we were supposed to hang out that night. What I’d just envisioned, settling down, committing to a life here, it started to seem stupid, even as the sentiment retained a sort of comfort. I slipped my phone out of my pocket, secretly checking my notifications as it lay on the ground in front of me. Several messages appeared, but before I could open them, the monks stopped chanting and everyone stopped praying.

              And then, later, just “I stopped caring about Paul’s messages.” Wtf, why?

              • vunderkind4 years ago

                The character was 'maturing' and Paul was nothing but a pleasurable distraction. It's very interesting to read it like this because this is how many women characters are written.

                • bill
                  Top reader of all time
                  4 years ago

                  Ok so this isn’t gonna AOTD lol bullshitt. I want more fiction on Readup!

                  this is how many women characters are written.

                  Yeah. Probably right