Commentary on Cate's Work

When I first published Cate's story below someone asked me why I hadn't given my commentary on her story. Stories are a lot different than art work in the fact that you can get the big picture just at a glance while with a story you have to invest a little more time to get the full story. Where they coincide is you need to devote time and energy (something a lot of people aren't willing to do anymore) to really dig deep to get the full picture. And I have to thank She's A Sprite for pointing out to me how Oz's uses the theme of Eve and the Garden of Eden a lot, something which I missed. Props to you Sprite. Anyway, I wanted to wait til people read Cate's story because anything I said would have spoiled it for everyone.

Now that enough people have read it I find it safe to say that rightly so everyones attitudes have been possitive. What was not to love? It is hard to write about heart ache and not have it appear to be melodramitic or over the top. More of a soap opera than a story. Plus, realism is back in fiction. Everyone was trying (and failing) to be another Chuck Palanhiuk. Grotesque stories of hyper realism where the strange is the norm. But let's face it, our lives are ordinary and boring at times. We plod through life like it's any other thing. And that is where Cate's work fits into the big picture. Where Oz's pictures use bright primary colors to soften the blow of the harsh underbelly, Cate's pictures exploit the ordinary. For ordinary is life, and tends to be a lot stranger than we give it credit for. Just as life can distract us from what is really going on in the world, so Cate's stories distract you from what is really happening before you.