Very sorry to barge in the parade. But so nice, amyhit, to hear your learned voice again.
Still.
I read this years ago. I remember finding it disappointing. When I reread it, I remembered why.
Not wishing to dump on the writer's style, which is fine: economical, with touches of humor and all the little lustful flourishes a shipper could wish for. I'm a shipper. All is well on that front.
The title is very provocative. I love the idea of an "owner's manual." It deserves a carefully thought-through, svelte, meta treatment. It doesn't get it here.
To my mind, the writer has made a basic mistake. She has tried to combine her notion with a not-particularly-interesting casefile. Someone is killed by a rock. Unexplained. Scully does the report and checks her wardrobe before dinner with her "best friend."
Up until the casefile started I liked this piece fine. After the casefile ended I liked it fine. I didn't like the combination at all. What was the point?
"Ask her how his burger is." "Tell him the cold sesame noodles are good." "Collect clumps of earth in plastic evidence bags." This is meta? It is simply a boring FBI outing with a glaze of sexual frustration. And told backwards. Developed further, and grammatically rearranged, it might have had a life of its own.
The "owner's manual" should have been less lovestruck and more clever. I suspect the writer is capable of a sophisticated do-over. But she's probably hung up on Benedict Cumberbatch now.
no subject
Still.
I read this years ago. I remember finding it disappointing. When I reread it, I remembered why.
Not wishing to dump on the writer's style, which is fine: economical, with touches of humor and all the little lustful flourishes a shipper could wish for. I'm a shipper. All is well on that front.
The title is very provocative. I love the idea of an "owner's manual." It deserves a carefully thought-through, svelte, meta treatment. It doesn't get it here.
To my mind, the writer has made a basic mistake. She has tried to combine her notion with a not-particularly-interesting casefile. Someone is killed by a rock. Unexplained. Scully does the report and checks her wardrobe before dinner with her "best friend."
Up until the casefile started I liked this piece fine. After the casefile ended I liked it fine. I didn't like the combination at all. What was the point?
"Ask her how his burger is." "Tell him the cold sesame noodles are good." "Collect clumps of earth in plastic evidence bags." This is meta? It is simply a boring FBI outing with a glaze of sexual frustration. And told backwards. Developed further, and grammatically rearranged, it might have had a life of its own.
The "owner's manual" should have been less lovestruck and more clever. I suspect the writer is capable of a sophisticated do-over. But she's probably hung up on Benedict Cumberbatch now.