First Things First…
I’m a little apprehensive, because I haven’t been impressed by the first few Poe stories I’ve reviewed, and I still have a ways to go in his catalog before I reach any of the famous ones. I’m just gonna keep hoping to find a hidden gem every time I read one that’s new to me.
1 Thing I Like
1. Karma for a Bad Husband
The story opens with the narrator and main character berating his wife—the morning after their wedding.
He calls her a wretch…
A vixen…
A shrew…
A hag…
A whipper-snapper (I thought this was only aimed at mischievous kids, but ok) …
A sink of iniquity…
And abominable…
All in the first three lines!
And if verbal abuse isn’t bad enough, he then he grabs her by the throat and is about to continue screaming at her. He only stops because he “loses his breath” (in a much more significant way than what we usually mean when using that expression).
He doesn’t give any reason why he’s treating his brand-new wife so horribly. And though he later finds a stack of love letters written to his wife, there’s no indication she’s having an affair or reciprocates the feelings.
So it seems like karma for a shitty husband to have so many bad things happen to him.
1 Thing I’m Mixed On
1. Loss of Breath…
Of all those bad things to happen to the narrator, Mr. Lackobreath, the original calamity—losing his breath—is the most interesting.
It’s not exactly clear what it means, because despite not having any breath in his body, he doesn’t die. He just can’t speak normally. He’s reduced to guttural sounds to communicate.
I can’t say the malady makes perfect sense to me, though the story is so outrageous that it’s probably not meant to. I just wish more was made of how torturous this must be.
Try exhaling and then pausing for a few seconds before inhaling. You don’t quite need another breath yet, but being stuck in that in-between state seems like it’d be unbearable, even if you weren’t going to suffocate.
But rather than focusing on this aspect of his ordeal and making the reader uncomfortable, it’s played more for laughs.
1 Thing I Don’t Like
1. … And Other Maladies
Even more ridiculous things happen to Mr. Lackobreath. His neck and limbs get twisted out of place, and because he can’t call for help, he’s left for dead. He then has a few organs removed, he’s electrocuted with a battery, and on and on.
It all becomes increasingly absurd. That seems to be the point. But despite at least having an inclination to appreciate the karma coming back to such a terrible person, this doesn’t do much for me.
I can imagine these sorts of terrible things happening in some of Poe’s other stories and finding them horrifying. But the comedy in this is lost on me.
Tim Matassa
