In The Fatal Light by Richard Curry, he uses flash fiction to keep the reader hooked to the book on a topic that many may find depressing. First off flash fiction is the use of very few words between 300 and 1000 to describe a story. Curry sticks to this and that is why his chapters are so short. I don’t think I would’ve enjoyed the book as much if he made longer chapters due to the heavy stories he was telling. With the short length the chapters to go by fast and you want to get to the next one.
While Curry was describing what it was like to be part of Vietnam and survive the war. With the use of short chapters it makes it feel more like we don’t know what will happen next just like the soldiers in Vietnam were feeling. But being able to use few words it means Curry had to get right to the point and choose his words very carefully. During the book you feel that Curry did not elevate anything to make it seem worse or better he just told it how it was. Also the quick chapters could reflect Curry’s how fast his mind was going everyday of the war. He didn’t have time to think about much besides staying alive and supporting his group.
I thought The Fatal Light was much like how David and Marc were describing it to us, intense and not sure how much longer you will be around. The use of flash fiction makes the novel easier for the reader and much more intense at the same time.
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