How about a reaction where I just stand, stunned and shivering from the absolute 'rightness' of what you have written? G-d, I wish I could get into a woman's skin the way you can! Every line of her response is so true, so inevitable, so perfect I cannot ever again think of it in another way. You have shown with total clarity how a self-centered act casts its repercussions through the world of which it is a part. Extraordinary and very, very beautiful. "Every caress feel like a blow?" Your words are flawlessly chosen and placed. I bow.
Thank you, and for the formal review as well. Wow. I'm a little overwhelmed -- in a good way, of course!
This did not occur to me at all as I was writing it, but looking back I realize that Paine's reactions in this chapter are partly informed by my own experiences -- my mother was suicidal when I was a teenager (many years ago, and fortunately she is fine now), so I'm very familiar with the fear before and the ugly mix of emotions after an attempt. Suicide is indeed a profoundly selfish act, but only the survivors really understand that.
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I
Re: I
This did not occur to me at all as I was writing it, but looking back I realize that Paine's reactions in this chapter are partly informed by my own experiences -- my mother was suicidal when I was a teenager (many years ago, and fortunately she is fine now), so I'm very familiar with the fear before and the ugly mix of emotions after an attempt. Suicide is indeed a profoundly selfish act, but only the survivors really understand that.