Date & Time

     Kaye forces us to alter our perception of time with the nonlinear arrangement of his stories. He repeats throughout the book that "a great story has a beginning, middle, and end but not necessarily in that order" (17). Emphasizing his point, he sections his stories off into beginning, middle, and end but does not organize the stories in chronological order of what we perceive as beginning, middle, and end. This forces confusion on the reader, because we expect a step-by-step lens into his life, but are instead presented with fragmented pictures and memories placed seemingly haphazardly. 

    Once the reader can approach the writing from a mindset removed from linear perspective, it allows them to understand the order and significance of the way Kaye organized the beginning, middle, and end of the book. They present like fables, in which Kaye is offering us the lessons he has learned throughout his life, and the relevance that they hold regardless of age and time. To me, the "End" of the collection is more confusing, riddled with memory blanks and unanswered questions, which contradicts our expectation of the end tying up loose ends and answering the questions the rest of the story built up. It does, however, align with out discomfort and frustration of ends in the sense of time. The short piece titled Beginning, Middle and End accentuates his point further, presenting a scattering of excerpts of moments in time and not offering any context for them. Oftentimes we never have context for what we experience. The short story "Camaro" (21) was a painful representation of this inability we have to know exactly what goes on in other people's heads. Kaye's ex insists he did so many things right, and that she values adventure and that's why they have to separate, but to Kaye it will always be a constant wonder of what he could have done differently, and if there was truth in her words, and the lasting mark of why he was not enough to make her happy. For the most part, I think everyone has an interaction with a loved one - friend or family or partner - that has similar unanswered questions that they remember and continue to question. 

    In the long run, I think it's rare for us to associate our memories with a date and time. We may have relative clues, like whether we were younger or older, holidays, and weather, and photographs, but what we remember vividly never has to do with time or the chronological perception of our lives. The important part of these memories is what we take from them. The lessons and values we hold within each experience. "The New Apartment" (98) really struck me, because the father was so concerned with the children's perspective on their new situation, but to children its a fun new experience, received almost like a new toy. We place a lot of pressure on this made up timeline of life - go to school, go to college, get a job, get married, have kids - and only recently are we trying to reconcile with the idea that this timeline does not equate to success, and it is not the only acceptable path to follow. 

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