Rare Pair Shorts

Kelly must have recced this before, too. Why am I here only now? Well, I’m happy I’ve finally followed your Minerva, even though you’ve written the reunion so beautifully that it hurts.

(Because I prefer the immediate illusion that I’m sharing the protagonist’s experience,) I don’t usually care for openings which show the characters from an outsider’s or omniscient narrator’s perspective, but your first paragraphs work excellently. I even get the impression that Minerva could assume that outsiders see her like that, and there isn’t any information she doesn’t possess, is there? Above all, of course, the contrast between the outside image and her recent experiences open the story effectively – and appropriately, too, because it’s soon followed by the essential account of Minerva’s need to leave the scene of those experiences so soon and to come abruptly to experience something completely different.

And then – or rather all along – the vivid, atmospheric, detailed, also humorous descriptions of the setting and people around. The clever remarks, the clever omissions of unnecessary explanations, e.g. of spelling out the reasons why the white shirt would not be worn for more than half a day – or why Willa might have chosen to wear it today. Just wonderful all around.

The whole of the story’s slow progress towards Willa fits perfectly what Minerva’s thoughts reveal to us about the development towards their relationship. And that development is shown to us excellently, in turn, within the final moments when they slowly get so close, to revel in the solidity of each other.

This became terribly convoluted, but I must post, in my longing for such love and intimate connection your writing has evoked.