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yjudaes August 9 2012, 23:12:47 UTC
OKAY. I am finally leaving feedback on this. I cannot promise it will be as coherent or worthwhile as you deserve, but here we go.

I think this is my favorite line: “You and I both know the game isn’t fortune-telling, it’s people reading. If he got it wrong it’s because you’re lying to him.”

This story is incredibly dense and opaque, and I don't mean that in a bad way. I mean it in a way like - you really leave it up to the reader to figure things out, you don't overstate anything. I feel like this is one of those stories where what's not said is just as important as what is. Where the details that kind of fall between the cracks really matter, and that's very appropriate, because thematically it also resembles the relationship you've built between Eames and Arthur. Both of them know inherently how important they are to each other, but neither of them seems to be able to bring himself to really know the other man. Like - they know these certain details and they use those details to build a picture, but the picture isn't complete. And both of them are terrified of going any deeper, but it takes a crisis to make them able to admit that.

The scenes in Arthur's natural dreams are so perfectly bizarre. I love the image of him building cities out of clouds, and I loved the teeth in his pillow.

I like that Eames never really finds any answers and there's no magic moment of insight that it takes for Arthur to finally wake himself up. People aren't puzzles, after all, and you can't ever really solve someone. I think that the ending is perfect, because it's hopeful but it's realistic. Like maybe it doesn't matter that they are maybe not any closer to understanding each other, because they don't have to in order to make a life together. That maybe Eames didn't need to know all Arthur's secrets, because when it mattered, he came and found Arthur regardless, and brought him back.

Thank you for writing this. I really appreciate everything that you did, the effort that went into this. You really captured the mood of the piece and I'm very flattered. I know I probably wasn't terribly helpful, and the painting itself is incredibly vague and ambiguous, but I'm glad that all the vague ambiguity paid off. Thank you again.

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chibi_lurrel August 21 2012, 20:48:26 UTC
ugh it's taken me forever to answer this really wonderful and thoughtful review because I just want to type you've got it and draw hearts around it. I was kind of afraid it would end up too dense without enough action to build their relationship, that maybe the conclusion wouldn't be enough. So thank you so much for this review because it makes me feel like maybe I did get it right, and thanks so much for your lovely art and letting me write for it! <3333

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