George and Martha is a short story written by MK Alexander, which follows the life of Martha and her husband George through the lens of their young neighbours across the courtyard.
Martha, having missed an important moment in TV history, decides that she's never missing one again, and as such, has dedicated her life to sitting and watching anything and everything she can. In fact, she hasn't turned it off for 30 years, apparently.
Immediately after the screen flickers and we get our first glimpse into the apartment, you are hit with the strong sense of just a grey, mundane existence. You can almost hear the tv static in the background, and picture the flashing lights as a figure sits hunched in a dark room, gorging themselves on every scrap of light from the box in the corner. The author does a great job at painting a picture with tone, rather than simply description.
Although the story is called George and Martha, but we only ever really get an insight into Martha, as she is the one our narrator can see and hear most clearly through his window across the way, only meeting George towards the end as our narrator begins to questions what he thinks he knows about the reclusive couple.
The TV references and the metaphor between the narrator and what he is observing are subtle at times and well crafted into the story, though at times you do forget about the narrator and that we're watching this through the eyes of someone else.
Verdict
I enjoyed this story a lot, though my only gripe would be the ending, which seemed to veer off in a different direction than the rest of the story and seemed somewhat abrupt.
★★★★☆ (4/5)
