Story 169: "In My Secret Life" by David Hearne

[amyhit]

I was originally considering something fluffy after last week's horror and gloom, but then this fic lured me in with its spare, eerie tone and the unique way it makes use of several important loose threads the series left us with

Comments

1/2 - style, concept, and character voice

[amyhit]

Writing style seems as good a place to start as any, I guess. The style of the writing in IMSL it much plainer than the vignettes I usually favor. There are places I feel the exact phrasing of a sentence is a bland or stilted, especially at the start of the fic, before the plot begins to thicken. However, by the time I get to the last word, I'm left feeling the fic's style works with the underlying dynamics of the story. The writing is nearly denotative, observing and describing what is, rather than evoking any specific feelings about what is happening, and I think that reinforces William's character, both as a child who has not yet developed complex inner systems of understanding, and as someone who must choose what role he will play in coming events. The power of the fic comes from the possibility that he might choose wrong, and the unaffected tone of the writing reinforces my belief in that possibility.

The idea of William's place in the world to come is developed in a few spare lines throughout the fic, and is the key issue of importance in the story, but Hearne only really brings the issue into focus in the last several sentences of the fic: William, leaving home, comes to a fork in the road and divines the direction he's going to go based on the love his birth parents feel for him, and whether their love is a convincing testament to the rightness of their cause. IMSL is something of a parable, a morality tale - the (potential) savior child with ghosts on his shoulder, guiding him. But it's an unfinished morality tale, which I think is what gives it its power and subtlety. It's not about right triumphing over wrong. It's about coming of age - choosing one's values, whatever they may be.

I also think the voices of the ghosts are very well written. Even without the clues Hearne weaves in to tell us who each ghost is, I think most of the time I could probably guess who each ghost was by their speech alone. He really nails the tone of each character.