23.06.2025 (1): The Children's Beyer

[sunshowerdandelion]

Finished The Children's Bach today, albeit in a hurry, and even then it's incredibly lovely. I do agree that the silences are the main thing: that the characters are multifaceted, that Mrs. Helen Garner skips around for a purpose. I think she has the best economy; she trusts the readers - in my case, too much - and she's unlike Mrs. Munro in that Mrs. Munro's gaps are often more solid, and Mrs. Garner's gaps are very fluid.

I liked it. Vicki is still my favorite, and it's astonishing how little we know her in the end. I think on a reread, this novel will reveal itself to me as having the depth and savor of characters that I love. I really, really love when characters have a 'feel' to them, and this novel's characters particularly felt close to life in that they exuded all different feels, at all different times.

As for writing: I wrote more of my AU, trying to cut my scene this way and that. I don't think this is quite right, but I'll keep trying...

Not even a 12-hour day was enough to dampen my spirits!