It felt true, it felt real; the characters, the pain, the shit trauma that shapes how you experience people and the world and so many things but then also the idea that there is something core to us that nobody else can claim credit for, something that is our own unique spark and how we ache for someone else to touch it and to see it and to say – hey that is nice, don’t lose it, I see it, there, don’t let anyone take it or douse it…
This is really a beautiful story – but even to say that it is beautiful feels reductionist. It is a beauty that comes from darkness and suffering… but then the beauty is also something that is consistent in the character to some degree throughout the story.
Good stuff. There are also some very important invitations offered throughout the story – one, in particular, is to reconsider (revise) how (and what) we think about the people of Appalachia. I think it is easy to stop at believing stereotypes about people, accepting the stereotypes when we encounter an example that confirms it. But then are the examples we are using to confirm the stereotypes coming from media? Red flag. When we stop there, without exploring further into the economic factors that may have contributed, to the ways a group was exploited by wealth and power, then we miss out on stumbling into the deeper truths and potential for commonalities.
Thank you Ms. Kingsolver, for taking the time to write this out. I like to think that Dickens himself would admire what you have done with his story.
Writing from Life, for Life. 