‘In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson is Buried’
— Andrew Sargus Klein
I have so many questions for Amy Hempel’s short story, ‘In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson is Buried.’ Questions like, “where are we?” and “what is actually happening?” What animates these questions is the realness of the story: what’s happening in these conversations with this hospital feels so real, so close, that I need more from the text than what it offers me. I’m heartbroken from the journey the story takes, despite knowing almost from the beginning where it was going to end. But maybe that’s the thing: staying patient with a thread that includes depression, illness, fun little facts, death, catastrophic natural events, and boredom is to amplify those things to the point where the narrative vibrates with a sadness that is all too accessible.