Hi pinkbarbie,I found your writing ad random. Hopefully this review will find you in good spirit.

Wow, what a very ugly experience for this child, and at the end for the mother as well. Did I witness a potential murderer? I would not want to be around this child to watch it growing up, with such a tale to remember. The only problem I have is the child’s age. Is it possible to think the way she does at age five? I am inclined to say no, the psychology is all wrong. But the story is great, gruesome but great!

On Title/Subject
I like the title, it’s cryptic but it covers the content since the child is learning alphabets and this day is one with a red flag, or a day covered in blood. So A red-letter day fits the bill perfectly. It made me curious to read further.


General impressions
It’s a very good story because it has a beginning, a middle and an end, the plot is obvious and the descriptions of both mother and child are very good.

From the start it is an ugly little tale: a complaining mother, shaking the shoulder, mumbling negative painful words.

Mom is not nice!

She hits a book and there is even a line of physical abuse, dealing with a belt!

It becomes even more shocking as the trust of this child is violated because the child thinks mom is going to be good when in fact mom puts her in the bath and drowns the child, or is at least attempting to drown her.

But then it turns even more horrendous: like mother, like child, the child deliberately withholds care to the mother and is responsible for the mother dying.

And that’s the problem, at the end I don’t like the child either. Mom is a monster, but the kid is no better. Is it because the kid is not showing much emotion during this whole tale, but is merely reflecting upon events? I have mixed feelings!

Suggestions
The only thing is the psychology of a five year old, for me it’s incomprehensible this child would think: Little did mother know that all I needed was her love and kindness; maybe I would stop sucking my thumb, maybe the dreams about daddy would fade away, maybe I would stop wetting the bed, maybe my life would be easier and maybe she would send me to a real school. It is the language of a grown up explaining the psyche of a five year old.


Final thoughts
All in all a very good story, although I didn’t like the mother AND the child very much. Although there are reasons enough to feel very sorry for the child, at the end the child turns out to be a potential murderer, and that was shocking.


Keep up the good work, enjoy writing!

Wies Blaize.