Status Updates From Literature

Raymond Carver "Neighbors." While I liked the Twilight Zone feeling of parts of the story, including the exaggerated "stock-ness" of the characters and the cipher of their names, I have to admit I don't really "get" what this story was about, except the perhaps too-obvious theme of escapism. I feel like the Star Trek TNG episode "Hollow Pursuits" tackles the theme more effectively.

Maupassant's "The Necklace". A masterful story. Perfection achieved without, apparently, a single bead of sweat. Breathtaking tragicomic irony at the cosmic and microscopic level.