“City of Dreams,” by Jaclyn Gonzales (issue X)

2/22/24: Into the Archives staff member Jocelyn Hancock on  “City of Dreams,” by Jaclyn Gonzales

After reading a few stories and poems from Prism Review Issue X, “City of Dreams” by Jaclyn Gonzales was the one I found myself enjoying the most. The story was written in a screenplay format, focusing on two teenage brothers named Hugh and Michael and their complicated relationship with their father. It’s a fictional story taking place at the peak of a traumatic event in Hugh and Michael’s abusive home life.

This script seems to be an excerpt of a bigger story, given that it begins with “flashback: 10 years ago” written in the first scene heading. Though I’m curious to know what else takes place in the full script, the excerpt worked as a complete and enjoyable short story. I liked how the author explored the relationship between two brothers and their shared love for music. Hugh and Michael seemed to use this passion as their escape from the physical and emotional abuse their alcoholic
father brought down on them. The brothers are also working through the loss of their mother, which along with music, is what’s bounding them together.

The author did a great job with creating a strong bond between the brothers Hugh and Michael. Hugh being the older brother had a very fatherly role in Michael’s life, which was shown through Hugh cooking Michael dinner and responsibly warning him of drugs and bad influences. Michael trusted Hugh in a way he couldn’t trust his father, and I thought the clear difference between these relationships was executed brilliantly through the “show, don’t tell” technique.

Another aspect that I thought was written strongly was the foreshadowing in the story. Hugh and Michael’s father is a very abusive figure in their life, he was constantly projecting his own personal failures onto his sons and their dreams of a successful music career. During tension scenes between Hugh and his father, the father would have mild coughing fits followed by heavy alcohol consumption. It’s clear that he abuses alcohol regularly, especially during times of stress. These moments of weakness in him led to the climax of the story, where Hugh and Michael find him unconscious on the floor, having drunk himself to death.

Overall, I really liked the concept of this story. I especially loved how the author was able to visually portray all of these different and complex relationships in just a few pages. I’m interested to know how this flashback impacted Hugh and Michael in the long run, given that their father’s death freed them from the abuse they were enduring.