A few hours 'late'? Pfft. Schedules? Are intended as nothing more than guidelines. We're getting a chapter a week (plus or minus a few inconsequential days); I, at least, am not complaining :).
I've also learned that brevity isn't in my genetic make-up, so this will be long and rambling. In lieu of brevity, maybe I'll try for coherence next week.
THIS CHAPTER!! The "Parent" chapter! I don't know if you planned it, but having the contrasting voices of Carly and Holden back to back delivered a hell of a punch. The common thread is parental love, of course, and you show us how that manifests in different ways and forms, how it's communicated and handled differently by two such different people as Holden and Carly. And yet, you also show us how it does boil down to essentially the same thing.
The Carly of this fic is so honestly and unflinchingly portrayed. She's so real to me. She reminds me of a dozen women I know, who fail often but never stop trying. I think it lies in the way you gave her these qualities that are very identifiable: strength that's undercut by brittleness, and insecurities that are rescued by healthy self-awareness. And I simply love that she's very much a parent; that she loves all her children so fiercely. Her dynamic with Noah is fascinating; in some ways, I think the parent-child roles may have been reversed at many points in their lives. But when it counts, like it does now, Carly is the mother that Noah needs. And that's just hugely satisfying from both dramatic and emotional perspectives.
It's like Oakdale was a festering wound that never healed.
Oh. Oh. Oh. In one sentence, you gave the town itself a personality. Oakdale is both exactly the sum of its parts and much more than that. This sentence sums it up for me. The events that have transpired and the personalities that have peopled your story till this point - they've all shaped Oakdale's personality. But this one line encapsulates how all of that impacts on one man, and his family and the networks of people connected to them. And suddenly, I see Oakdale as not just a place or the intersection of multiple personalities. It's a metaphor for this story; echoes of past and present, events that are entangled, lives that collide and intertwine. None of this probably makes any sense, nor is it likely how you intended this to be read. But it is how it's striking me as a reader. It's actually interesting, because this is an extremely plotty fic and plotty fics usually sweep me along on the tide of just things happening. But the structure you have chosen here, the switching points of view and the juxtapositions of timelines - these elements make reading this a very different and intellectually rewarding experience for me.
Oops! Sorry for the digression. I would be completely remiss if I didn't say something about the last segment of this chapter. Oh, these boys! They rend my heart to pieces, they really do (or YOU really do, to be accurate). So much love and yearning and all that trepidation and stubbornness. I love that you've made Noah the one who needs to be sought out and reached, because as a cop, he's the one who usually has to look and find the answers. And it really can be easier to answer the questions that are not your own. That Luke is going to him and is refusing to back down just shows how right they are for each other,and it leaves me flailing and sighing and AS EXCITED AS CAN BE about the next chapter!
no subject
I've also learned that brevity isn't in my genetic make-up, so this will be long and rambling. In lieu of brevity, maybe I'll try for coherence next week.
THIS CHAPTER!! The "Parent" chapter! I don't know if you planned it, but having the contrasting voices of Carly and Holden back to back delivered a hell of a punch. The common thread is parental love, of course, and you show us how that manifests in different ways and forms, how it's communicated and handled differently by two such different people as Holden and Carly. And yet, you also show us how it does boil down to essentially the same thing.
The Carly of this fic is so honestly and unflinchingly portrayed. She's so real to me. She reminds me of a dozen women I know, who fail often but never stop trying. I think it lies in the way you gave her these qualities that are very identifiable: strength that's undercut by brittleness, and insecurities that are rescued by healthy self-awareness. And I simply love that she's very much a parent; that she loves all her children so fiercely. Her dynamic with Noah is fascinating; in some ways, I think the parent-child roles may have been reversed at many points in their lives. But when it counts, like it does now, Carly is the mother that Noah needs. And that's just hugely satisfying from both dramatic and emotional perspectives.
It's like Oakdale was a festering wound that never healed.
Oh. Oh. Oh. In one sentence, you gave the town itself a personality. Oakdale is both exactly the sum of its parts and much more than that. This sentence sums it up for me. The events that have transpired and the personalities that have peopled your story till this point - they've all shaped Oakdale's personality. But this one line encapsulates how all of that impacts on one man, and his family and the networks of people connected to them. And suddenly, I see Oakdale as not just a place or the intersection of multiple personalities. It's a metaphor for this story; echoes of past and present, events that are entangled, lives that collide and intertwine. None of this probably makes any sense, nor is it likely how you intended this to be read. But it is how it's striking me as a reader. It's actually interesting, because this is an extremely plotty fic and plotty fics usually sweep me along on the tide of just things happening. But the structure you have chosen here, the switching points of view and the juxtapositions of timelines - these elements make reading this a very different and intellectually rewarding experience for me.
Oops! Sorry for the digression. I would be completely remiss if I didn't say something about the last segment of this chapter. Oh, these boys! They rend my heart to pieces, they really do (or YOU really do, to be accurate). So much love and yearning and all that trepidation and stubbornness. I love that you've made Noah the one who needs to be sought out and reached, because as a cop, he's the one who usually has to look and find the answers. And it really can be easier to answer the questions that are not your own. That Luke is going to him and is refusing to back down just shows how right they are for each other,and it leaves me flailing and sighing and AS EXCITED AS CAN BE about the next chapter!