For this week’s Reader Response Essay, pretend that you are an Assistant Editor at The New Yorker, writing a review of the story in preparation for an Editorial Meeting. Your task is to explain your reasons for why the story should or should not be accepted for publication at the magazine. Imagine that you are submitting your Response Essay to the Fiction Editor, Deborah Treisman, which will be followed by a Staff Meeting. You already know that some of the other Assistant Editors love this story and are keen to publish it. Are you as well? Why or why not? In your mind, does the story need to answer the question, “what is the theme”?
