#1: My Life with the Wave

I'm actually pretty shocked as to how good this short story was and how well it used a man's affairs with a wave to paint a potrait of being in a relationship with a self-centered, emotionally volative, needy, insecure, normal woman. (Hahaha I swear that was a joke. Seriously..) At first I was somewhat annoyed at how difficult it was to imagine this overblown personification of a wave in any kind of plausible way, even though I take myself to be a pretty cooperative reader. What frustrated me most was that I could never quite grasp WHERE the heck they were. Sometimes it seemed like he was talking as if he was in his physical apartment, other times at the beach, and almost all the time both, at the same time, in some hyperpoetic, surreal way. But as I gave up trying to make sense of it, I began to appreciate it. I think Paz intentionally blurs our perception of location because he wants us to focus on how it all feels--he intentionally blurs the line between concrete reality and emotion because in any real relationship there's oftentimes an indistinction between the two. And the feelings and emotions Paz communicates through his chaotic whirl of imagery perfectly captures what it's like to be in (a unhealthily attached and sinfully carnal version of) love.