“M & L” by Sarah Kokernot is a short story featured in The Best American Short Stories. Kokernot was born in Kentucky and received a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She is a writer of various short stories and is presently working on her first novel. “M & L” tells the story from the point of view of Miriam and Liam – two good friends; one of which has a past trauma. As I read the story, it was difficult to stay focused on the main plot because of the depth of detail the author provides. I read the story again, using all the details hoping to gain an insight into what the point of the story was. I did not come out with a clear meaning and insight into anything, leaving me disappointed. Kokernot’s extraneous details makes for a difficult read, but focusing on the main theme of love offers an entertaining read. The short story begins with the end of a wedding reception. Introduced first are two bridesmaids, Miriam and Gloria. They are accompanied by Luke, a tall redhead, as the three walk through the woods looking for an exotic animal farm; particularly, a camel. During this, Miriam has a …show more content…
To start, I do not understand why the story begins with the three friends looking for a camel. The camel has no literal or symbolic connection to any character in the story, but takes up the first quarter of the story. Also, the setting of the wedding did not add any meaning to the story and only further clouded the main conflict in the story. There seemed to be little use of artistic unity, which is especially important in a short story. Despite these shortcomings, I enjoyed Kokernots method of exploring the theme of love. Using the perspectives of Miriam and Liam offered an interesting insight into the minds of two lovers, which is why I believe this story was included in The Best American Short