Natalya by Puloma Ghosh
Read it here in about 10 minutes.
Thinking about why I love it…
I love that this short story takes the form of a medical examiner report, with subheadings throughout. I don’t know what a real medical examiner report would look like, but the subheadings here make sense in the order they appear, and the order helps the story flow and reach a natural conclusion. It also makes sense because the narrator is the medical examiner, and I can understand the overlap of their professional role and their personal history and feelings, and how they might think or speak in a way that mimics such a report while carrying out their work.
I love the use of present tense and second person narrative point of view. I think the present tense helps to signify the shock the narrator feels, to come across the body of an old lover, years later, and the memories and emotions this brings up. The way these memories and emotions appear in the story, seemingly random, feels natural (as in, seems reasonable, and reflects the way memories work in real life), and this is supported by present tense, because they appear in ‘real time’ as the narrator carries out their role. The use of second person is a nice touch, as the narrator directs the story to her dead lover; of course, a medical examiner’s report would not be in the second person, but the use of this grammatical person makes the story personal and intimate, which is appropriate for an autopsy.
I love the tone. It’s not overtly emotional, but it’s full of nostalgia for the wildness of one teenage summer, which has haunted the narrator ever since. The collision between past and present is harsh and sad. The story raises questions about what might have been, or what should have been. In the end, nothing is resolved for the narrator; there are just memories.
Mina Ma 