SHORT STORY SERIES - Bank Holiday by Katherine Mansfield

I couldn't have been more excited to write this. Skipping from one book to another; my reading life recently has seen a sharp nosedive and it sure as hell isn't something I am proud of. One of the easiest ways to get out of such a rut is usually to re-read an old book I enjoyed, but that also did not work. I had to do a lot of battles before I finally settled and read this one. This particular story is part of a collection by Katherine Mansfield; The Garden Party and Other Stories and it is the only one with a peculiar style. It is also worthy of note that after her brother (the author) died from a demonstration grenade in World War 1, the grief inspired her to write this story and others in the collection.

A bank Holiday is typically a type of holiday where all businesses are closed and there are celebrations. It is kinda similar to Labor Day. The story is pretty peculiar as it boasts no singular plot, characters, or all that conventional style of storytelling but paints a brief yet illuminating portrait of the celebration of a bank holiday. The story moves from scene to scene with people completely immersed in their activity with various underlying messages.

One can barely pick out a singular purpose for vague and ambiguous stories like this one. But, the central theme of waywardness and nonconforming story telling style is prevalent. Katherine seeks to take a different route.

This is a story that does not sound like the typical thing you'd read, or me even, but It caught my attention for a reason. Perhaps for its style. So the central idea is simple. No defined characters, no plot, or any of that. This allowed the author to freewheel into the story. Interestingly it offered a sort of fluidity, as the scenes ran into each other, with an atmosphere of joy and excitement. An interesting style of writing. The diction is a bit tacky, as I could barely understand some parts of the scene at times, The ambiguity is also glaring as it seems the author is putting the onus on the reader to solve the story. The ending isn't any better. A decent read nonetheless. I'd recommend it because of its really short nature. I would also rate it 2 out of 5.