Thursday, April 4, 2013

Kylie Putnal Remember Dauntless River


Kylie does a remarkable job of setting the opening scene at the river.  I thought that the use of italics was different than what others in the class had been doing and was a useful way to show us the river.  The combination of dialogue and detail makes the description come about naturally throughout the entire story.  Kylie's metaphor of her emotions, "escaping with the avalanche, tumbling through my head and leaving me loose and unsteady." is original and effective.  This story has a nice ending to it, and a warming effect as the siblings end up being back together on the river where it had all started. 
I appreciate Kylie’s use of the youngest person in the story bestowing wisdom upon the other characters.  I think that Michael is clearly the voice of immature wisdom during the scenes that Kate and Lily are fighting with each other.  I liked that those fights reminded me of the way that my older sisters used to fight— always in their bedrooms, and always like cats.  This may almost teeter on typical, but I think that the setting of the bedroom for the first major conflict between Lily and Kate is appropriate. 

This story has a plot that you might see from a TNT original television series.  I think the plot twist that the parents have died in a car wreck is a little overused and makes the conflicts between Lily and Kate less interesting.  I think that some of the images of the scene like, “Eyes closed. Arms raised. Face tilted upward. I smile as the sun strokes my skin, blanketing my body in a nerve-tingling warmth” might even be too warm for the reader.  It’s almost gushy in its language.

I think this story has vivid imagery that carries its storyline throughout.  

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