The Story, by Amy Bloom, might just be my favorite so far.
I mean it.
Not just because the characters were recognizable and strong. Which they were. Not because the narrator was intriguing and I understood her and identified with her. Which she was.
I think it was because there were so many stories woven into one narrative. There was the story. Then there was the reality. Then there was the writing of the story. And "The Story" was candid and intriguing before the narrator came clean about the details, before she started talking about wanting to tell the story and all the details she found necessary.
I found myself rooting for the story and the narrator. And the author. I'm still not certain if the narrator at the end was the author or not. I hope she was, and I hope she wasn't. On one hand, I hope that the awful things Sandra did were punished. On the other, the entirety of "The Story" makes a compelling work of fiction on it's own. I don't know if it's all fiction, or half fiction and half non-fiction, or what it may be. All I know is I loved it. Every second of it.
The blur between reality and fiction as the story began to reach it's ending was exciting and, I think, really captured the process of writing a story that is rooted in a personal reality in huge ways. At least it felt like that to me. I have difficulty writing stories based on people I know or direct creative non-fiction. I always need to add a detail to separate my story from reality. Something like making stained glass windows instead of statues. Or being a psychiatrist, specifically, not a therapist.
Little details like that do a lot. First, they're great for filling gaps. Second, and more importantly, they allow for the expansion of empathy a reader needs. By adding fictional details to creative non-fiction, blurring our reality with our story, we can see into the minds and experiences and motivations of characters, based on people we know personally and with whom we can never have that level of understanding. Being able to understand a fictional character better than we know people we have known all our lives is one of the most magical things about fiction. Whether it is all fiction, or half and half, or whatever balance it is, Amy Bloom captured that for me. And, like I said, All I know is I loved it. Ever second of it.
Plus, that last line speaks to me on a spiritual level, and it's just another reason to love the story even more. As if I needed another one...
I mean it.
Not just because the characters were recognizable and strong. Which they were. Not because the narrator was intriguing and I understood her and identified with her. Which she was.
I think it was because there were so many stories woven into one narrative. There was the story. Then there was the reality. Then there was the writing of the story. And "The Story" was candid and intriguing before the narrator came clean about the details, before she started talking about wanting to tell the story and all the details she found necessary.
I found myself rooting for the story and the narrator. And the author. I'm still not certain if the narrator at the end was the author or not. I hope she was, and I hope she wasn't. On one hand, I hope that the awful things Sandra did were punished. On the other, the entirety of "The Story" makes a compelling work of fiction on it's own. I don't know if it's all fiction, or half fiction and half non-fiction, or what it may be. All I know is I loved it. Every second of it.
The blur between reality and fiction as the story began to reach it's ending was exciting and, I think, really captured the process of writing a story that is rooted in a personal reality in huge ways. At least it felt like that to me. I have difficulty writing stories based on people I know or direct creative non-fiction. I always need to add a detail to separate my story from reality. Something like making stained glass windows instead of statues. Or being a psychiatrist, specifically, not a therapist.
Little details like that do a lot. First, they're great for filling gaps. Second, and more importantly, they allow for the expansion of empathy a reader needs. By adding fictional details to creative non-fiction, blurring our reality with our story, we can see into the minds and experiences and motivations of characters, based on people we know personally and with whom we can never have that level of understanding. Being able to understand a fictional character better than we know people we have known all our lives is one of the most magical things about fiction. Whether it is all fiction, or half and half, or whatever balance it is, Amy Bloom captured that for me. And, like I said, All I know is I loved it. Ever second of it.
Plus, that last line speaks to me on a spiritual level, and it's just another reason to love the story even more. As if I needed another one...
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