Sunday, April 7, 2013

Critique of Stewart’s “Desafortunado”


Though the adjective Desafortunado (unfortunate) is used specifically in reference to the albino horse, it can be applied to every element and character of the story, including the small, stagnant town of Socorro.  Starting with the aftermath and meandering through every moment beforehand, the story traces the events involved with the accidental murder of Herman and the euthanization of a half-blind albino ex-race horse named Cheyenne. 
Stewart experiments with time and personification.  He abandons sequential chronology like Quentin Tarantino when arranging scenes and ascribes emotions and ambitions (or lack there of) to items as inconsequential as tumble weeds.  Both devices prove successful and make for an interesting read.  Despite the back and forth plot motion, the order of events can be reasonably deciphered with close attention to scene details and a little rereading.  There are a few noticeable slips in time, such as sunset occurring when it should be sunrise, but the slight errors do not hinder the story.

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