{"id":226,"date":"2014-10-08T00:10:04","date_gmt":"2014-10-08T04:10:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/casit.bgsu.edu\/marblog\/?p=226"},"modified":"2014-10-08T00:10:04","modified_gmt":"2014-10-08T04:10:04","slug":"accepted-war-stories-by-lesley-nneka-arimah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/casit.bgsu.edu\/marblog\/accepted-war-stories-by-lesley-nneka-arimah\/","title":{"rendered":"Accepted: \u201cWar Stories\u201d by Lesley Nneka Arimah"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"war<\/a><\/p>\n

In our \u201cAccepted\u201d column, <\/em>Mid-American Review editors discuss why they selected stories, poems, or essays for publication. In this post, Fiction Editor Laura Maylene Walter discusses a story that appears in our Spring 2014 issue.<\/em><\/p>\n

Genre: <\/strong>Short fiction
\nTitle: \u201c<\/strong>War Stories\u201d
\nAuthor:<\/strong> Lesley Nneka Arimah
\nMAR issue:<\/strong> Spring 2014
\nFirst line:<\/strong> \u201cThis time, my mother and I were fighting about what I had done at school to prove with no question that Anita Okechukwu was not wearing a bra.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWar Stories\u201d opens with an immediately compelling conflict: the narrator, twelve-year-old Nwando, has exposed her classmate Anita not only for her lack of a bra, but also for the pretenses that allowed her to become the dictatorial leader of the school\u2019s exclusive Girl Club. Thanks to her actions, Nwando finds herself an unwitting hero and the head of a new \u201cgirl army\u201d regime. As Nwando experiences the rise and fall of her own power at school, she listens at home as her father covers new ground in his wartime memories and reveals more than he perhaps intended.<\/p>\n

Along with many other Mid-American Review<\/em> fiction readers, I was immediately engaged by the story\u2019s premise and read on with increasing interest as Nwando\u2019s struggles at home and school escalated. The story illustrates adolescent tension in fresh and surprising ways, and author Lesley Nneka Arimah masterfully blends Nwando\u2019s schoolyard conflict with her father\u2019s recollections of his time in the war.<\/p>\n

The language in \u201cWar Stories\u201d is also infused with a reflective quality that expands Nwando\u2019s story into more universal territory. For example, when Anita experiences her fall from social graces after the bra incident, Nwando considers the broader consequences for her classmate: \u201cWhat I hadn\u2019t expected were the boys who ran behind her during recess and lifted up her skirt, as though my actions had given them permission, as though because they had seen her bare breast, they were entitled to the rest. It was a boyish expectation most would not outgrow even after they became men.\u201d<\/p>\n

The storytelling is also lively and takes surprising turns. Take, for instance, the scene that occurs after Nwando is punished for punching her classmate: \u201cDuring dinner, which I wasn\u2019t permitted to share with my parents, I sat on a stool in the kitchen, soothing the shrapnel sting on my behind with daydreams of how upset my real parents would be when they discovered these temporary guardians had used me ill. I tried very hard not to think about the little girl and her nose, how it crackled beneath my fist.\u201d The vivid language and storytelling gain momentum throughout the story as Nwando\u2019s father begins sharing his wartime experiences.<\/p>\n

\u201cWar Stories\u201d is more than a gripping, beautifully told story about a young girl navigating the poisonous social structure at school and a haunted father at home \u2013 it\u2019s also about the power of the many kinds of stories we tell.<\/p>\n

What MAR <\/em>editors said about \u201cWar Stories\u201d:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026strong and engaging\u2026an example of well-managed realism. Touching without being sentimental and a light touch with humor. A quirk without being crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis story offers a lot in these nine pages about the pain this family has experienced with loss. It may not follow a traditional path, but I enjoyed the details of this family connecting. The emotion feels authentic, the details engage, and the flaws of people trying to be leaders to those around them \u2013 moving.\u201d<\/p>\n

Laura Maylene Walter, Fiction Editor<\/em><\/p>\n

Photo:<\/strong> legOfrenis<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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