"Helix" by Banana Yoshimoto

We were assigned this story for class this week.

This story is about a writer with a hangover who seems ambivalent and disconnected from his life, primarily his girlfriend, until she tells him she's considering going to a seminar with a friend that promises to clean out your bad memories.  This seems to wake him up and make him think about the possibility that he could be erased from her life, despite the fact that she reassures him otherwise: "I promise that I'll be able to recover all my memories of you...Even when I have crushes on other men, I always see you in the curve of their eyebrows" (654, Art of the Story, Edited by Halpern).

Oh, literature.  I've always said that I love teaching reading and writing because they are ways to get at the bigger picture of life, and this story is yet another example of the way a great text can provide a little life lesson.  Reading this story reminded me a lot of the movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.  When I saw that movie for the first time, I bawled through the entire thing because it made me think about all the things I was taking for granted in my various relationships.  This story is a nice wake up call for that same reason.  Also, some gems of language, as listed above.  I'll be happy to lend out my copy of the anthology at the end of the semester.