Hi dean. This is a beautiful story, but I had the oddest sensation that I had read it before; maybe I had, at a time when I wasn't able to review it. Reviewing this story is quite difficult, because in some ways, all I can say is, fantastic, wonderful, beautiful and all the other superlatives. So let's take them as read and look at the story itself.
The first thing that really struck me is the lack of a plot. Well, there is a plot, but it is extraordinarily basic; boy meets girl, boy impregnates girl, boy leaves. However, that's how this story should be, because two things stand out with superb clarity - the characterisation and the environment/context. Your characters are finely drawn, Majah in particular, but also the Greek soldier, Neerjah, Majah's father, and even Marjah's mother, who we never see. But they stand out as well developed characters, and we can identify with them even at a span of 2000 years.
The environment surrounding these characters is also well established and developed. You must have put a great deal of research into this story and I could hear, see and smell the sounds, sights and smells of the location. And feel the emotions, particularly of Marjah as a girl first teetering on the brink of womanhood, then, through force of circumstances, plunging into it.
dean, this is a genuinely moving, poignant story, full of truth and, I suggest, although others may not agree, of beauty. But it also reminds me of something else. The French say "plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose", and I'm going to be sufficiently arrogant as to assume it needs translating - the more things change, the more they stay the same. India, 2000 years ago, Korea in the 1950s, Vietnam in the 1960s and for all I know, Iraq and Afghanistan today. Members of alien forces mate with local women and leave, leaving children behind who are neither (or both) of the local community and of the "invading" community. It does seem possible, in the context of your story, that the Greek soldier could see something of an ethnic difference in Marjah and possibly identify her as having Greek ancestors somewhere along the line.
dean, thank you for a superb story, professionally and touchingly told. My only hesitation, and it's wholly personal because I am an old softy, is that I had hoped for a happy ending. But you were telling a truth that does not, cannot, allow for that.
Warm regards
bumblegrum
My review has been submitted for consideration in "Good Deeds Go Noticed" . |
|