This piece tells the odd 'love' story of Marya and Gabe. Gabe falls for Marya when he hears her sing (despite her not being that great of a singer), believing she has saved him from suicide. Marya likes feeling needed like this. Gabe is artistic and a dreamer, yet pretty psychotic, and ends up abusing Marya physically and emotionally. Ultimately, Marya gets some sense and leaves him.
I really enjoyed all the unusual characteristics these characters have and descriptions of these characteristics. Describing Marya's voice as a musical saw, and then using cartoon references to create a sensory connection to what this might sound like, is really unique. Also, the images presented, such as Gabe playing his violin with a saw, is really striking and unusual for a reader to imagine, yet truly characterizes Gabe's crazy tendencies.
Despite the odd characters and their relationship, the situation McCracken presents is one a lot of people can relate to. People find themselves stuck in unhealthy relationships because, initially, they like to feel needed and appreciated and even flattered, and then eventually they feel trapped by abuse, or even just by not knowing where else to go.
As far as the layout of the story, I thought breaking up the piece with numbers was interesting and also confusing. I've always liked this format, but here I can't seem to find a consistent purpose for them. Sometimes the numbers indicated a scene change, but not always, so then I thought maybe they indicated certain important moments in Marya's and Gabe's relationship, but still, I'm not sure.
Overall, I wish I had even more backstory on these characters - what led them to be the way that they are? I'm always a fan of vagueness and obscurity, but this was such a compelling story that I wanted to know more!
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