The Houseplant – Jeremy Ray

There’s a scene about halfway through “The Houseplant” where said plant, George, understands that tragedy is about to strike and tries – with the only resources available – to help.

The desperation of the moment, and the confusion that follows, prove that you can pack as much character development and emotion into a 5,000-word standalone story as some full-length novels.

What’s even more unbelievable is that Jeremy Ray had me invested in the plight of a house plant, when I am most definitely not a Plant Gay™.

Anthropomorphism as a plot device is sometimes a hard sell, because we will never fully understand the inner workings of other sentient and non-sentient creatures, but Ray really made be believe in George’s plight.

Since I don’t share my life with any plants, I thought a lot about my curmudgeon of a geriatric rescue cat, whom shared many of George’s characteristics before finally coming around to fully embrace the love and attention given.

A few clunky and overly descriptive phrases aside, “The Houseplant” was just the right length to honor the story without overdoing it. All-in-all, it was a welcomed change of pace from my usual reading.

Thank you to Jeremy Ray for this advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review. The story is now available for purchase on Amazon.

Rating (story): 4/5 stars

Rating (narration): N/A

Formats: E-book (advanced reader copy)

Dates read: December 20 - 22, 2020

Multi-tasking: N/A