![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
I was chatting yesterday with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
hazardblue and as usual we got around to exchanging readling lists. She recced a fic called "Giving Notice," which I remembered hearing about, but had never bothered to look into - the author's penname is "Quoth the Raven," and I automatically grouped it with such names as "Snapeyluv" and "Moonglow Darkchilde" in my List of Authors to Never Read. (I'm sure there are probably some people who do the same to any authors named "Trismegistus," but such is the way of life...)
But the fic - is it ever powerful. Finally - a fic that deals with honest-to-god suicide as opposed to some 15-year-old's sappy, romanticised version of the act. I started reading the fic at work, took my computer home, opened it right back up and continued reading until I was finished (a rarity with my short fic attention span). And the fic is powerful, really powerful. I finsished reading and sat at my kotatsu thinking, "Shit..." And these aren't even real people. There's no reason this fic should make me this upset.
I think it's due to the incredible realism in QtR's writing. She doesn't mince about the issues, and people grieve and rage believably instead of the tired "M/Ha(r)ry Sue is dead! Long live M/Ha(r)ry Sue!" plotlines which abound on ff.net and the many HP MLs. Her choice of viewpoints is also ingenious - the aftereffects suicide (or death in general) are a lot more far-reaching than just one's close circle of family and friends.
The only thing about this fic that disappoints is her intention (stated in the author's notes of a recent chapter) to end the fic with a chapter from Harry's perspective. I doubt she'll resort to the cheesy I'm-looking-down-from-heaven closure, but I really, really hope that she changes her mind about this POV, period. One of the most disturbing and damaging aspects of suicide is that nobody will ever know why, and a chapter from Harry (either pre- or post-suicide) illuminating this issue, will ruin the raw power of "Giving Notice."
But still, upon final evaluation, this is one of the best fics I've read in a long time. Go. Read. Now.
That will be all.
hazardblue and as usual we got around to exchanging readling lists. She recced a fic called "Giving Notice," which I remembered hearing about, but had never bothered to look into - the author's penname is "Quoth the Raven," and I automatically grouped it with such names as "Snapeyluv" and "Moonglow Darkchilde" in my List of Authors to Never Read. (I'm sure there are probably some people who do the same to any authors named "Trismegistus," but such is the way of life...)But the fic - is it ever powerful. Finally - a fic that deals with honest-to-god suicide as opposed to some 15-year-old's sappy, romanticised version of the act. I started reading the fic at work, took my computer home, opened it right back up and continued reading until I was finished (a rarity with my short fic attention span). And the fic is powerful, really powerful. I finsished reading and sat at my kotatsu thinking, "Shit..." And these aren't even real people. There's no reason this fic should make me this upset.
I think it's due to the incredible realism in QtR's writing. She doesn't mince about the issues, and people grieve and rage believably instead of the tired "M/Ha(r)ry Sue is dead! Long live M/Ha(r)ry Sue!" plotlines which abound on ff.net and the many HP MLs. Her choice of viewpoints is also ingenious - the aftereffects suicide (or death in general) are a lot more far-reaching than just one's close circle of family and friends.
The only thing about this fic that disappoints is her intention (stated in the author's notes of a recent chapter) to end the fic with a chapter from Harry's perspective. I doubt she'll resort to the cheesy I'm-looking-down-from-heaven closure, but I really, really hope that she changes her mind about this POV, period. One of the most disturbing and damaging aspects of suicide is that nobody will ever know why, and a chapter from Harry (either pre- or post-suicide) illuminating this issue, will ruin the raw power of "Giving Notice."
But still, upon final evaluation, this is one of the best fics I've read in a long time. Go. Read. Now.
That will be all.