Jo Joe by Sally Wiener Grotta

Trigger Warning: Rape, Alcoholism

The Broken Bottle by Sally Wiener Grotta

Have you ever had some small even in your life change you forever?

That is what this short story documents.

One small even changes Joanne for the rest of her life.

When she and her husband were dining out at a Chinese restaurant, Joanne witnessed an act of violence against two men.

There were a group of men sitting around a table, and a man she calls Black Jacket. He breaks a bottle on one of the mens’ faces and throws another man out of the restaurant through the door.

Joanne is traumatized by this experience and it starts to enter her relationship. She does not have the same relationship that she had with her husband on that night.

She feels they are two completely different people because he did not witness the events like she did.

It just tells the story of how one small event can change your life forever. It doesn’t have to be a huge event; it can be small like witnessing something that doesn’t even involve you.

Other than the main take away from the story I mentioned above, there wasn’t much to it. It wasn’t very deep. There wasn’t very much character building.

It seemed more like the prelude to a longer story than just a stand-alone short story. I feel that this would be a solid starting point for a novel, but as a stand-alone, it seems a bit lacking.

3/5 Stars

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