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A Fist of Permutations in Lightning and Wildflowers
Hannah and Melanie: sisters, apart and together. Weather workers. Time benders. When two people so determined have opposing desires, it's hard to say who will win - or even what victory might look like.
This stunning, haunting short story from rising star Alyssa Wong explores the depth and fierceness of love and the trauma of family.
This stunning, haunting short story from rising star Alyssa Wong explores the depth and fierceness of love and the trauma of family.
20 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 2, 2016
About the author
Alyssa Wong
333 books388 followersAlyssa Wong studies fiction in Raleigh, NC, and really, really likes crows. She was a finalist for the 2016 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and her story, “Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers,” won the 2015 Nebula Award for Best Short Story and the 2016 World Fantasy Award for Short Fiction. Her fiction has been shortlisted for the Pushcart Prize, the Bram Stoker Award, the Locus Award, and the Shirley Jackson Award. Her work has been published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Strange Horizons, Nightmare Magazine, Black Static, and Tor.com, among others.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 191 reviews
July 15, 2017
Another one of the Hugo short-story finalists. A beautifully written, abstract tale of different possibilities, choices, and the inevitableness of some outcomes no matter which path we choose.
Two sisters can manipulate time and space. When one commits suicide, the other plays with her abilities and tries to change this, but no matter what she does, the final result is always the same. Will she manage to learn that this is not her story and not her choice, or will she be stuck in the loop forever?
The story touches on heavy topics – parental abuse and society’s unwillingness to accept those who are different. It always remains ambiguous – perhaps the sisters have no power at all, and it is all happening in the protagonist’s head? Or perhaps she has all this power and is still helpless.
“If I could knit you a crown of potential futures like the daisies you braided together for me when we were young, I would. ”
Two sisters can manipulate time and space. When one commits suicide, the other plays with her abilities and tries to change this, but no matter what she does, the final result is always the same. Will she manage to learn that this is not her story and not her choice, or will she be stuck in the loop forever?
The story touches on heavy topics – parental abuse and society’s unwillingness to accept those who are different. It always remains ambiguous – perhaps the sisters have no power at all, and it is all happening in the protagonist’s head? Or perhaps she has all this power and is still helpless.
March 24, 2019
The day my sister ended the world, the sky opened up in rain for the first time in years, flooding the desert wash behind our house. The snakes drowned in their holes and the javelinas stampeded downstream, but the water overtook them, and the air filled with their screaming as they were swept away.
this is good spiky stuff for your feeling-parts.
it's a family story, and there's magical stuff and a kind of time travel or time manipulation, but despite the bravado of a child: It was simple, Melanie had once told me. “Here, Hannah. Pay attention, and I’ll teach you how the future works,” it's a little more involved and problematic than that initial confidence would suggest: Her eyes slid away from me. “It’s not that easy to get it right,” she said.
i really appreciated the fact that wong didn't telegraph the specifics at the heart of this story, but that it wasn't so subtle that you'd miss it. that's a really tricky balance to pull off, and while a similarly-structured tor short - The Insects of Love - didn't work for me, this one really did because she was able to control the ambiguity and the multiple timelines and repetitions without sliding too far into either explanation or obscurity.
this is the second tor short i have read by her, and i've liked them both. this one is a more sophisticated and complex story, but they are both floating on a mix of pain and love and helplessness and lonely alienation that is perfectly done. this one goes a little deeper - Scarecrow may have been intended for a YA audience, but in both she's got a really strong voice, and i enjoyed the fresh spin she brought to a concept that's been done bunches of times in bunches of different ways.
but jesus, that title… thumbs down.
read it for yourself here:
http://www.tor.com/2016/03/02/a-fist-...
come to my blog!
this is good spiky stuff for your feeling-parts.
it's a family story, and there's magical stuff and a kind of time travel or time manipulation, but despite the bravado of a child: It was simple, Melanie had once told me. “Here, Hannah. Pay attention, and I’ll teach you how the future works,” it's a little more involved and problematic than that initial confidence would suggest: Her eyes slid away from me. “It’s not that easy to get it right,” she said.
i really appreciated the fact that wong didn't telegraph the specifics at the heart of this story, but that it wasn't so subtle that you'd miss it. that's a really tricky balance to pull off, and while a similarly-structured tor short - The Insects of Love - didn't work for me, this one really did because she was able to control the ambiguity and the multiple timelines and repetitions without sliding too far into either explanation or obscurity.
this is the second tor short i have read by her, and i've liked them both. this one is a more sophisticated and complex story, but they are both floating on a mix of pain and love and helplessness and lonely alienation that is perfectly done. this one goes a little deeper - Scarecrow may have been intended for a YA audience, but in both she's got a really strong voice, and i enjoyed the fresh spin she brought to a concept that's been done bunches of times in bunches of different ways.
but jesus, that title… thumbs down.
read it for yourself here:
http://www.tor.com/2016/03/02/a-fist-...
come to my blog!
June 11, 2021
I will use this as my review for every Alyssa Wong story I ever read until she gets to publish a collection at long last 😊😊😊😊😊😊😊
→ Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers ← ★★★★★
✨read this legendary story for free here
This is basically one of the most terrifying stories I have read in my life. A girl uses Tinder to find dates and feed off their gross thoughts about her body. And on one date, she feasts off a murderer and becomes addicted. There's also a maybe-romance between her and her best friend and it is really gay and really perfect. I adored this story, to the point that although I initially felt that the end fizzled a little it became one of my new favorite short stories. I’ve read it four separate times. The writing and atmosphere is pitch-perfect, I adored the characters... just great.
EDIT: As I've grown up—I first read this at sixteen—it is also my pleasure to announce that I have, in fact, figured out my interpretation of the ending, and because I am an English major I did that by writing a paper about it. Sixteen year old me would be so proud. A longer review can be found here.
→ All the Time We've Left to Spend ← ★★★★★
✨read this masterpiece here
I have read this twice and I still don't know how to review it. This story is creepy, and atmospheric, and awful and beautiful and heartbreaking. Following a girl who comes to a hotel containing a robot version of the girl she used to love, it is a beautiful and awful experience. Sad and melancholy and, as always, gorgeously written.
→ A Fist of Permutations In Lightning and Wildflowers ← ★★★★★
✨read for free here
This story is one about grief, and about learning to accept tragedy but also deal with the fear that it may have been partially your fault. Hannah and Melanie’s sisterly bond is amazing and beautiful and harsh and I’m so glad to have read it.
→ You’ll Surely Drown Here If You Stay ← ★★★★☆
✨read thisfor free here
An atmospheric, oddly western story about shapeshifting and grief and death. This one is a bit too long, but I absolutely adored the ending, and the themes are excellent.
I adore Alyssa Wong and will continue to review her short stories here. Let me know if you know of any I’ve missed!!
Blog | Goodreads | Twitter | Youtube
→ Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers ← ★★★★★
✨read this legendary story for free here
This is basically one of the most terrifying stories I have read in my life. A girl uses Tinder to find dates and feed off their gross thoughts about her body. And on one date, she feasts off a murderer and becomes addicted. There's also a maybe-romance between her and her best friend and it is really gay and really perfect. I adored this story, to the point that although I initially felt that the end fizzled a little it became one of my new favorite short stories. I’ve read it four separate times. The writing and atmosphere is pitch-perfect, I adored the characters... just great.
EDIT: As I've grown up—I first read this at sixteen—it is also my pleasure to announce that I have, in fact, figured out my interpretation of the ending, and because I am an English major I did that by writing a paper about it. Sixteen year old me would be so proud. A longer review can be found here.
→ All the Time We've Left to Spend ← ★★★★★
✨read this masterpiece here
I have read this twice and I still don't know how to review it. This story is creepy, and atmospheric, and awful and beautiful and heartbreaking. Following a girl who comes to a hotel containing a robot version of the girl she used to love, it is a beautiful and awful experience. Sad and melancholy and, as always, gorgeously written.
→ A Fist of Permutations In Lightning and Wildflowers ← ★★★★★
✨read for free here
If I could knit you a crown of potential futures like the daisies you braided together for me when we were young, I would.None of them would end with you burning to death at the edge of our property, beaten senseless in the wash behind the house by drunken college boys, slowly cut to pieces at home by parents who wanted you only in one shape, the one crafted in their image.
This story is one about grief, and about learning to accept tragedy but also deal with the fear that it may have been partially your fault. Hannah and Melanie’s sisterly bond is amazing and beautiful and harsh and I’m so glad to have read it.
→ You’ll Surely Drown Here If You Stay ← ★★★★☆
✨read thisfor free here
An atmospheric, oddly western story about shapeshifting and grief and death. This one is a bit too long, but I absolutely adored the ending, and the themes are excellent.
I adore Alyssa Wong and will continue to review her short stories here. Let me know if you know of any I’ve missed!!
Blog | Goodreads | Twitter | Youtube
April 27, 2017
Hands-down, totally gorgeous, kick you in the crotch, will not dare to pretend you're a stupid reader, DANGEROUS story.
I love it!
There are way too few stories like this, full of heart and anger and frustration flowing incomprehensibly from either hyperbole or from gigantic world-destroying energies and permutations of time travel and godlike powers. Could be just one. Could be both. Who knows? From one way to read it, it could just be a pair of very volatile sisters that FEEL life so strongly, so loudly, so deeply, that it feels like the world is tearing up beneath their feet in a louder way than going super sayan. OR all these fantasic fantasy elements are perfectly real and they can reset reality after crashing it like a misplaced memory address in a computer.
I mean, WOW.
And it doesn't really end there, either, because the hints in the story and the revealed clarity of tragedy and hate and wild abandon in the face of wrongs done to us gives REALITY to either reading and it even choked me up.
Bravo, bravo, bravo.
This ain't a traditional story by a long shot, but it is a truly fantastic wild ride, like reaping the whirlwind from within the scythe. :)
Barring other reads, this might be my top pick for the short story Hugo noms for '17.
I love it!
There are way too few stories like this, full of heart and anger and frustration flowing incomprehensibly from either hyperbole or from gigantic world-destroying energies and permutations of time travel and godlike powers. Could be just one. Could be both. Who knows? From one way to read it, it could just be a pair of very volatile sisters that FEEL life so strongly, so loudly, so deeply, that it feels like the world is tearing up beneath their feet in a louder way than going super sayan. OR all these fantasic fantasy elements are perfectly real and they can reset reality after crashing it like a misplaced memory address in a computer.
I mean, WOW.
And it doesn't really end there, either, because the hints in the story and the revealed clarity of tragedy and hate and wild abandon in the face of wrongs done to us gives REALITY to either reading and it even choked me up.
Bravo, bravo, bravo.
This ain't a traditional story by a long shot, but it is a truly fantastic wild ride, like reaping the whirlwind from within the scythe. :)
Barring other reads, this might be my top pick for the short story Hugo noms for '17.
February 28, 2017
An excellent, well written short story.
November 27, 2022
when something tragic and horrible happens to someone you love, something that could have been avoided, if I had only if she had only if they hadn't if the world wasn't, you can feel a rage not just against the person or people who caused that tragedy, who hurt or killed that loved one, you feel a rage against the entire world, like lightning striking again and again and again, that's what you want, burning everything down, killing everyone in sight, innocent and guilty alike, who's innocent anyway, who needs people anyway, now that the person you love has been taken away from you. just burn it all down, you dream and you rage, as you imagine all the alternate scenarios that could have saved that person you love, all the things you could have done, as you imagine catastrophe striking the world, a catastrophe that parallels what you are feeling inside, and what you are feeling is a need to see everything and everyone burned, everything in ashes like the ashes where your heart used to be.
this story was like the best of Sylvia Plath: full of rage, full of sadness, full of imagining how it all could have been so different, if only.
read this primal scream for free, but is anything or anyone truly free:
https://www.tor.com/2016/03/02/a-fist...
this story was like the best of Sylvia Plath: full of rage, full of sadness, full of imagining how it all could have been so different, if only.
read this primal scream for free, but is anything or anyone truly free:
https://www.tor.com/2016/03/02/a-fist...
May 31, 2016
Wow. Another free story, again from Alyssa Wong and again a powerful story that sucks you up from the first line until the last. This author is really good at making you feel all the feels in a short amount of time!
This was not a horror story per se (unlike the first by this author that I read only a couple of minutes ago) but what the MC went through, emotionally, was definitely horrific in its own way.
The world-building is very nice and so are the characterizations.
This was not a horror story per se (unlike the first by this author that I read only a couple of minutes ago) but what the MC went through, emotionally, was definitely horrific in its own way.
The world-building is very nice and so are the characterizations.
February 28, 2017
This is sort-of a fantasy story, maybe. But it's more of an exploration of the aftermath of a suicide, the mental state where someone grieving the loss of a loved one goes through all the possibilities; the "what-ifs" and the "if only I'd done something differently."
We're told that the narrator and her lost sibling had special abilities; the possibility to change reality - but it's not certain that that is true. If it is, changing outcomes is certainly very 'hard' as the character says.
The style and mood of this piece reminded me a bit of Caitlin Kiernan.
We're told that the narrator and her lost sibling had special abilities; the possibility to change reality - but it's not certain that that is true. If it is, changing outcomes is certainly very 'hard' as the character says.
The style and mood of this piece reminded me a bit of Caitlin Kiernan.
April 7, 2020
If I could knit you a crown of potential futures like the daisies you braided together for me when we were young, I would.
I read this too fast, found it beautiful, but missed... something.
Read it again instantly (it's short enough).
Stunned.
The day my sister ended the world, the sky opened up in rain for the first time in years, flooding the desert wash behind our house. The snakes drowned in their holes and the javelinas stampeded downstream, but the water overtook them, and the air filled with their screaming as they were swept away.
I'd had a few Tor shorts by Alyssa Wong sitting on my To Read shelf for months- years, even - waiting for me to have the patience to read a single short story on an actual screen. I'm a page and print and scent-of-paper-book person, no apologies. Except that pedantic-ness nearly stopped me stumbling across this thunder-shock of a tale, which would have been a travesty.
Melanie was better at everything than I was, the stormy bit and the talking bit both. She could split the horizon in two if she wanted, opening it at the seams as deftly as a tailor, and make the lightning curl catlike at her wrist and purr for her. She could do that with people too; Mel glowed, soft, luminescent. It was hard to look away from her, and so easy to disappear into her shadow.
The story is slippery to grasp, at first, with prose that feels like almost too much, too beautiful on a first read, easy to skim over. To skim over, and then be pulled back into. (I started again). The second time through, the heartbreaking everything is clear. The twists and turns of the story, the ripples and shockwaves out into (maybe) other universes, other pasts and presents, the inevitability and (maybe) not inevitability of the endings.
“Why did you come back?” were the last words she said to me before she went up in flames, taking the rest of the universe with her.
It's the kind of short story that begs a longer and a longer telling. Is Wong working on a novel? Novella, even? Novellette?
April 15, 2022
Reading this made me realise how little I read science fiction and fantasy, as it took me two readings to comprehend it, and there are still a few things I may have missed.
The title is beautiful though....
The title is beautiful though....
March 25, 2018
A short, interesting and brutal tale of two sisters that doesn't neatly fit into a genre. Sci/Fi-fantasy-dark fiction or some combination of the above. I liked it. :)
Read 3.23.18
Read 3.23.18
February 25, 2019
I was completely lost in the emotions of the story. Would definitely recommend reading. Amazing story.
May 1, 2016
The sentences are beautiful, the sentiment is strong, and the overall structure is intriguing. How can you go wrong with an opening of javelinas drowning as they try to outrun a flash flood?
...the air filled with their screaming as they were swept away.
I was hooked. Then it was a cherry bowl of words and meanings, which I don't think I really comprehended, and probably wasn't supposed to comprehend. There's much angst and pain and frustration, all of which kept me going as a reader, although I'm not sure, in the end, what it's all about.
If I could knit you a crown of potential futures like the daisies you braided together for me when we were young, I would.
But beautiful. Very beautiful.
Book Season = Winter (fear the rain)
...the air filled with their screaming as they were swept away.
I was hooked. Then it was a cherry bowl of words and meanings, which I don't think I really comprehended, and probably wasn't supposed to comprehend. There's much angst and pain and frustration, all of which kept me going as a reader, although I'm not sure, in the end, what it's all about.
If I could knit you a crown of potential futures like the daisies you braided together for me when we were young, I would.
But beautiful. Very beautiful.
Book Season = Winter (fear the rain)
May 23, 2022
i wish i could write like this.
May 19, 2022
Always heart wrenching and beautiful. Another must read!
July 21, 2017
Vaya viaje emocional en apenas unas páginas. Alyssa Wong escribe muy, pero que muy bien.
March 3, 2016
There was nothing phoenix-like in my sister’s immolation. Just the scent of charred skin, unbearable heat, the inharmonious sound of her last, grief-raw scream as she evaporated, leaving glass footprints seared into the desert sand.
If my parents were still alive—although they are, probably, in some iteration of the universe; maybe even this one—they would tell me that it wasn’t my fault, that no one could have seen it coming. That she did this to herself. But that kind of blame doesn’t suit me. Besides, they had always been exceptionally blind to matters regarding Melanie.
This opens with a bang and the writing is gorgeous, but the story spun around and around (not a metaphor) too fast for me to catch ahold and really love it. I couldn't make the necessary connection to have the heartbreak I am always craving from a story. (I will probably reread this at a later date to see if its better than my first reaction; it seems like it should be. It certainly would be better if some of the other Tor shorts were not so freaking extraordinary, but really, why would I want that?)
If you'd like to give it a try yourself, you can give it a read for free at Tor:
http://www.tor.com/2016/03/02/a-fist-...
If my parents were still alive—although they are, probably, in some iteration of the universe; maybe even this one—they would tell me that it wasn’t my fault, that no one could have seen it coming. That she did this to herself. But that kind of blame doesn’t suit me. Besides, they had always been exceptionally blind to matters regarding Melanie.
This opens with a bang and the writing is gorgeous, but the story spun around and around (not a metaphor) too fast for me to catch ahold and really love it. I couldn't make the necessary connection to have the heartbreak I am always craving from a story. (I will probably reread this at a later date to see if its better than my first reaction; it seems like it should be. It certainly would be better if some of the other Tor shorts were not so freaking extraordinary, but really, why would I want that?)
If you'd like to give it a try yourself, you can give it a read for free at Tor:
http://www.tor.com/2016/03/02/a-fist-...
March 8, 2019
Oh crap... that was dark, and so so so so bleak. Huge points to Alyssa Wong for not stating the obvious, but scattering the story with enough clues so that one could understand the absolute dissatisfaction with her lot, and the other being unable to stop her no matter what she did.
Read the story here: https://www.tor.com/2016/03/02/a-fist...
Read the story here: https://www.tor.com/2016/03/02/a-fist...
January 5, 2017
Powerful feelings written in beautiful prose. I read this as Melanie being trans, hence the actions her family and neighbors take.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 19, 2017
I like the core concept, here, the connection between the sisters and Hannah's struggle to save Melanie and the way external powers are never enough to save us from ourselves. But I felt the metaphor overwhelmed the emotional power in places, and I found myself wishing for something a little quieter, a little smaller scale. Less literal world-ending, more introspection and willingness to grapple with grief.
Also,
Also,
May 12, 2020
This was beautiful in a very sad way.
I had to read it twice to actually get it, and I think asking yourself if that says something (in negative or positive) about it (its quality? the author's writing?) is a valid question but not one I want to address here.
Anyway, it's not the kind of short story I can even talk about without ruining its effect, but I think it's definitely worth trying to read.
TWs: suicide, grief, transphobia & misgendering
I had to read it twice to actually get it, and I think asking yourself if that says something (in negative or positive) about it (its quality? the author's writing?) is a valid question but not one I want to address here.
Anyway, it's not the kind of short story I can even talk about without ruining its effect, but I think it's definitely worth trying to read.
TWs: suicide, grief, transphobia & misgendering
December 6, 2018
Tw's: mentions of suicide and self harm
So many emotions and complex concepts developed in such a short story.
https://www.tor.com/2016/03/02/a-fist...
And thanks to another reader here on GR's, I found out this one:
http://www.nightmare-magazine.com/fic...
So many emotions and complex concepts developed in such a short story.
https://www.tor.com/2016/03/02/a-fist...
And thanks to another reader here on GR's, I found out this one:
http://www.nightmare-magazine.com/fic...
November 15, 2016
This was raw and full of pain.
The prose is beautiful, flowing and full of emotion.
The story got a little lost at points, but it was enjoyable.
The prose is beautiful, flowing and full of emotion.
The story got a little lost at points, but it was enjoyable.
April 6, 2017
4.5ish stars.
I would totally read a novel about this. Looks like I'mma have to read more Alyssa Wong.
I would totally read a novel about this. Looks like I'mma have to read more Alyssa Wong.
June 19, 2022
There was nothing phoenix-like in my sister’s immolation. Just the scent of charred skin, unbearable heat, the inharmonious sound of her last, grief-raw scream as she evaporated, leaving glass footprints seared into the desert sand.
A hard edged, emotional story of a sister's grief and loss and anger at her sister's death. The writing strikes with its immediacy, even as it circles back over and over again to different version of the pain. Very well done.
A hard edged, emotional story of a sister's grief and loss and anger at her sister's death. The writing strikes with its immediacy, even as it circles back over and over again to different version of the pain. Very well done.
April 2, 2022
A Fist of Permutations in Lightning and Wildflowers by author Alyssa Wong is a Hugo Award Nominee for Best Short Story (2017), Nebula Award Nominee for Best Short Story (2016), Locus Award Nominee for Best Short Story (2017) you can read for free on the Tor.com site https://www.tor.com/2016/03/02/a-fist...
Hannah and Melanie: sisters, apart and together. Weather workers. Time benders. When two people so determined have opposing desires, it’s hard to say who will win—or even what victory might look like. This stunning, haunting short story from rising star Alyssa Wong explores the depth and fierceness of love and the trauma of family.
’You can’t fix this. It was never yours to control’.
Wow. I can see why this was a winner. Beautiful and haunting.
Themes: multiple timelines, sisters, love and grief.
5 Stars
Hannah and Melanie: sisters, apart and together. Weather workers. Time benders. When two people so determined have opposing desires, it’s hard to say who will win—or even what victory might look like. This stunning, haunting short story from rising star Alyssa Wong explores the depth and fierceness of love and the trauma of family.
’You can’t fix this. It was never yours to control’.
Wow. I can see why this was a winner. Beautiful and haunting.
Themes: multiple timelines, sisters, love and grief.
5 Stars
October 29, 2018
This short story was published in 2016 and was nominated for both Hugo and Nebula. It didn’t win either.
The story starts with a great premise: “ There was nothing phoenix-like in my sister’s immolation. Just the scent of charred skin, unbearable heat, the inharmonious sound of her last, grief-raw scream as she evaporated, leaving glass footprints seared into the desert sand.”
What follows after is not a very coherent story, stream-of-consciousness type of narration, which depicts two sisters with magic/super powers and love/hate relations, one of whom, as the quote above mentions, died. It does greatly the state of mind a reader could have experienced if they lost someone to something preventable and their thought always return to the question ‘what could I have done differently?’ At the same time the story lacks any kind of definite finale, it is like a glimpse into other person mind, which just faded away.
The story starts with a great premise: “ There was nothing phoenix-like in my sister’s immolation. Just the scent of charred skin, unbearable heat, the inharmonious sound of her last, grief-raw scream as she evaporated, leaving glass footprints seared into the desert sand.”
What follows after is not a very coherent story, stream-of-consciousness type of narration, which depicts two sisters with magic/super powers and love/hate relations, one of whom, as the quote above mentions, died. It does greatly the state of mind a reader could have experienced if they lost someone to something preventable and their thought always return to the question ‘what could I have done differently?’ At the same time the story lacks any kind of definite finale, it is like a glimpse into other person mind, which just faded away.
March 13, 2016
CN: Trans woman and suicide
Wow... I was not expecting that when I opened this particular story. It begins with two sisters who know how to manipulate the weather. One sister ends up on the other side of the country to act and the other stays home. The other, as it turns out, is also a trans woman, and you find out in bits and pieces that her family is not supportive of this. She kills herself and the rest of the story is the sister frantically trying to stop this from happening over and over again. The story is haunting in the desperation and grief it portrays, and despite the fact that I spoiled 90% of the plot, it's worth a read for the beautiful prose and emotions.
Wow... I was not expecting that when I opened this particular story. It begins with two sisters who know how to manipulate the weather. One sister ends up on the other side of the country to act and the other stays home. The other, as it turns out, is also a trans woman, and you find out in bits and pieces that her family is not supportive of this. She kills herself and the rest of the story is the sister frantically trying to stop this from happening over and over again. The story is haunting in the desperation and grief it portrays, and despite the fact that I spoiled 90% of the plot, it's worth a read for the beautiful prose and emotions.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 19, 2017
Stories like this are like dragonflies skimming over water. They touch down, here, there, on a surface that is so teeming with life, but then they're gone. The pieces of this story are beautiful, tantalizing, enticing. The story told in the pieces is engrossing and haunting...but I still want more from it. A greater lucidity...though I have to wonder if that's even entirely possible, given the subject matter. But it's one of those stories that lives in the liminal borderlands between poetry and prose.
It's a good story, and I can recognize it as a good story without having to strain. I just personally want something more prose-y.
It's a good story, and I can recognize it as a good story without having to strain. I just personally want something more prose-y.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 191 reviews