She really zooms in on the variety of emotions tied to grief. It has a surprising honesty that had me stinging in the last paragraph of the story. It could easily have been autobiographical. I would love to be able to write this well.
mike flickinger replied on Wed, 09/02/2009 - 05:57am
Ann Packer is the real thing, and writers as good are few and far between. "Molten" is superb--it deserves an "A" followed by an endless number of pluses.
Dorothy Burris replied on Sat, 09/05/2009 - 05:38am
Wow. You had me feeling the heaviness in that house the whole time. The draw of Ben's room. His music. The letter secreted in the backpack. The intrusion of the friend's unexpected visit. And you truly frightened me when she drove over the tracks into the child's neighborhood. I was holding my breath when she spoke to the mom. How could she not feel that way. What parent wouldn't truly feel that. If only she'd been able to find that voice in a different place. But, she couldn't. Thank you for a fine journey.
Frank Tavares replied on Mon, 09/07/2009 - 01:03pm
She really zooms in on the variety of emotions tied to grief. It has a surprising honesty that had me stinging in the last paragraph of the story. It could easily have been autobiographical. I would love to be able to write this well.
Ann Packer is the real thing, and writers as good are few and far between. "Molten" is superb--it deserves an "A" followed by an endless number of pluses.
Wow. You had me feeling the heaviness in that house the whole time. The draw of Ben's room. His music. The letter secreted in the backpack. The intrusion of the friend's unexpected visit. And you truly frightened me when she drove over the tracks into the child's neighborhood. I was holding my breath when she spoke to the mom. How could she not feel that way. What parent wouldn't truly feel that. If only she'd been able to find that voice in a different place. But, she couldn't. Thank you for a fine journey.
I loved this. I loved that she wasn't nice about her son's death--that she wished he hadn't died saving someone else's son.
I'm in awe of the structure of this piece. So much information encapsulated in so little time, and with just the right quick details. Beautiful.
What a brilliant piece. My heart pounded and ached at the same time. Grief captured.