Ripple details the very strange
sexual (mis)adventure of a slightly depressed illustrator. From a general
perspective this is similar to the cat lady story from Through the Habitrails,
but Ripple is much more twisted and graphic. The protagonist who of course
hates his job illustrates all the commonplace garbage we normally see in
advertising until he gets a grant for a project on erotica. He rejects the idea
of using a model he might expect to find in a magazine or other media outlet
and instead searches for more of a “real” woman, one with features that could
make anyone get their money’s worth of Photoshop. He ends up with a curvy,
slightly manipulative and considerably younger woman (or girl) whom he develops
a sexual attraction towards. Under the guise, if you can call it that, of
erotic art, he draws her in sexual situations and gradually developes a
relationship with her. He’s always thinking of some excuse to get her to come
by and once she’s there he looks for a reason too get her to stay longer. The
protagonist is needy and showers the girl with attention, which she in turn
abuses. The situation gets weirder and weirder until the girl, fickle minded
and unattached decides to leave. If I’m perfectly honest, I wasn’t disinterested,
but I have to admit the whole thing was kind of gross and twisted. I felt bad
for the protagonist who was too much of a mess to notice all the red flags. I’m
also curious as to how “fictional” the story was. I’m inclined to believe that
at least some of it was based, even loosely, on the author’s own experiences.
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