Insular – A Short Story

I got to ask you, what if your name was something amazing like Earl? What if you liked and took pride in your job? What if you worked with a new guy who gave you the creeps?

Unfortunately and unlucky for you, your mother didn’t give you the blessing of calling you Earl, and you probably hate your job like the majority of the population. Although you probably do work with a creep, chances are his name isn’t Julian.

On the other hand, today is your lucky day! Jamie Stewart has given you a tale with all of that! This story is about an impressive kid named Earl who took great pride in his job. Pretty much the best on the block. You know, the type of guy who is the manager’s pet! That’s is until he has to train a new trainee. This new guy, well there’s something wrong with him. What do you ask? Well, that will be giving away the story now, wouldn’t it?

So without getting into the plot of this story let me tell you what I liked and didn’t like about it.

First off I liked it because it was a short read. I usually read novels that are a lot bigger. Make sense seeing that this is a short story. So reading this was a real treat for me. Second, the author did a great job of telling the story. There was a great intro that quickly got down to business.

The most remembered thing, for me at least, is how the description of the job brought back feelings of when I worked in retail. The thankless managers that fed you the lines of how good of a job you were doing just so you would do more work. It made me feel dirty, and not in a good way. It brought back memories of those thankless retail days. The days when you went to work with a sick feeling in the pit of your stomach. That’s what made the feeling of the book so great. Mission accomplished by the author, intentionally or unintentionally.

With that out of the way. Here’s the bad. I didn’t really find anything that stood out as being bad in the story. I did find a few words that I thought were spelling mistakes and it got me flipping out a bit. Realize was written as realise. After Mr. Google explained it, it all depends on your location. I felt a bit stupid about that, but I’m happy that I got it figured out. It makes me feel a lot better about the story.
Now to wrap this all up. I would suggest this story for the reader who wants a quick read that wants to have the feeling of oh no. I found the story pretty suspenseful considering the length of it. If I had to describe the stories style, I would say it would have to be the feeling of Stephen King telling you about the time when he worked in retail.