I haven't read this story in a number of years, though it's lived on in my memory. Even now, even knowing how it turns out, the story packs a punch. If anything, it's even more incredible to realize that well before S8 the author nailed the return. What actually played out is eerily similar to this story -- and I would have loved to see this version done.
You're pulled in from the first sentence. Re-reading it now, I started thinking about when the narrator wrote this -- at what remove? It seems like some time has passed, that she's thought about the events over time. Even though there is an immediacy to the story, there are grace notes that sound like she's turned it over in her mind before putting the words on paper. For me it's also a mediation on writing and memory. The much-overused description "lapidary" comes to mind. Like the river in the story tumbling the rocks and not revealing everything, there's a lot going on under the surface here. Just lovely.
The misdirection and subsequent "reveal" was so well-done. It was a pleasure to read again. I still felt that little "frisson" when the final stranger shows up, and the last image is classic.
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winterfish
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Date: 2013-06-09 03:43 pm (UTC)You're pulled in from the first sentence. Re-reading it now, I started thinking about when the narrator wrote this -- at what remove? It seems like some time has passed, that she's thought about the events over time. Even though there is an immediacy to the story, there are grace notes that sound like she's turned it over in her mind before putting the words on paper. For me it's also a mediation on writing and memory. The much-overused description "lapidary" comes to mind. Like the river in the story tumbling the rocks and not revealing everything, there's a lot going on under the surface here. Just lovely.
The misdirection and subsequent "reveal" was so well-done. It was a pleasure to read again. I still felt that little "frisson" when the final stranger shows up, and the last image is classic.