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Promise and Sorrow  by Virtuella 7 Review(s)
SoledadReviewed Chapter: 1 on 10/16/2008
Oh how bittersweet! We knew the War was won at a terrible price, but seeing the aftermath is always so sad, isn't it?

Author Reply: Well, I hope I can make it turn out reasonably well for him. ;-) Thanks for your review.

Agape4GondorReviewed Chapter: 1 on 8/2/2008
I don't know how I missed these... this first chapter is exquisitely haunting. Though afraid he had died, and grateful that he lived, I hope now for peace for him. And for her who is probably in her own bed right now weeping.

The poignancy of the mundane rocks this tale!

meckinockReviewed Chapter: 1 on 7/26/2008
The focus on the shoe is really brilliant. I love how you've opened the curtain on the wider cost of the war, the cost to ordinary folk. This woman is such a believable character, and her anguish is so real.

TinkReviewed Chapter: 1 on 7/20/2008
This was so realistic, the mother's obsessive thoughts about the shoes show me how hard this has hit her. She is glad to have him back, although missing a leg; but knows how much it is hurting him because he probably doesn't see a future now.

Episcopal WitchReviewed Chapter: 1 on 7/19/2008
Just stunning. It took me only a few minutes to read your story, but I had tears in my eyes by the end. So simple, and the simplicity is part of what makes it so powerful. You did catch me in a personal place--the older of my two sons just turned 18, and just got his driver's license so he's riding out proudly, and while I was doing deep cleanup recently I found a pair of little shoes with the imprints of little feet still in them....But also, because the story hit me so personally I can attest that you hit the mother's voice spang on. The memories of her son's lifetime wrapped up in the intimate physical objects...the vivid flashbacks of tickling the little boy's toes--we mommies do love our babies' toes! (what happened to the dad, I wonder? it sounds like he's gone--but you're right not to tell us)...and the way the mother's thoughts go round and round and round fixating on the trivia of what to do with the shoes, as she tries to handle both her grief and her relief that her son came back. What a wallop!!!

Author Reply: Thanks for your comments. I'm sorry this monologue affected you so much personally - I hope you'll find some of the others less upsetting!

Jay of LasgalenReviewed Chapter: 1 on 7/19/2008
That is an amazing piece of writing, and so heart-rending! The mother's voice is very powerful.

Well done!


Jay

daw the minstrelReviewed Chapter: 1 on 7/19/2008
I love the way she focuses on the trivia of the shoe, unable to look for long at the stark pain of the loss. That seems true to life to me.

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