Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening/Night(whichever one it is in your part of the world),
Hi! I'm here to leave a quick review!!
First Impression: Well this is quite an interesting idea for a bit of a novel of sorts here. I wonder if given the title this is going to be sort of a series of letters back and forth or if its meant to start with this letter and then go towards something else. Either way this is a very solid start here.
Anyway let's get right to it,
I read the first chapter of your book. I struggled to get through single paragraphs as my hands trembled on the mention of the older sister. This is because Julia, my older sister and my best friend, died on July 4th from cancer. As I gazed upon her lifeless frame with horror in my eyes, I broke down to the floor. Life would never be the same without her by my side.
In the two weeks since her funeral, life has changed. Dad is gloomy and cold, uttering not a single word. Mom travels to the far side of town more often, and is rarely to be seen at home. Life feels like a desert, barren, harsh and undiscriminating. The cold breeze that Julia was has traversed far away, and I feel left alone and vulnerable.
Well this is starting with quite the powerful opening here. We're diving right in with this person having lost someone that was clearly quite close to them and that definitely has quite a bit of power here. I'm very curious to see where this actually manages take us from here especially given how this death seems to have been a particularly tragic one.
Seven years ago, when I was eight, she began to fall ill at an unusual rate. She’d have to stay in hospitals for weeks in a row, and fly to New York frequently. Her eyes looked stripped of their glimmer, and her body grew hollower day by day. Then, one evening, a day before a surgery on her, my dad and mom sat down on the couch, gazing me right in the eye.
“Look, it's been tough lately, and I think we should tell you this,” my dad said, sighing aloud.
“What do you mean, Dad?” I said.
“It’s about Julia. Promise me you’ll stay strong no matter what.”“Okay, but please tell me what you mean, Dad.”
Well that definitely does not seem like the sort of thing you want to have happen to any family member and the way this person manages to bring this point across in this sort of almost professional manner that still ends up very much laced with emotion really brings the whole idea to life quite powerfully here.
“Julia has Stage 2 ALL.”
“What’s that?”
“She has blood cancer,” he said, his voice breaking and his eyes turning moist.
“But, we need you to stay strong and be ready for whatever may happen,” my mom said.
Tears filled my eyes as I began to comprehend what my parents had told me. Visions flashed in front of my dampened eyes of Julia and me. My parents came down, wiping their tears, to embrace me.
Well you can certainly see the anguish coming in fast there. It seems like things have gotten to a really bad stage there if the parents are actually sitting what seems like the youngest of the family down and informing them of the gravity of everything too. You can certainly see how it looks like this long fight here seems to have maybe taken a turn for the worse at this point beyond just what we saw through the descriptions at the very start.
As the days went on, the sight of Julia slowly turned into a luxury. She stayed nights upon nights in the hospital, with IV fluids and excruciating chemotherapies blowing a little life into her.
But, as time moved forward, she grew frail and fatigued, unable to muster the strength to speak. Yet, she smiled brightly every time I would see her. And then, one day, still sleeping, she just passed away. Her eyes were shut forever, the sound of her voice muted eternally, her smile only to be seen in photos.
This was the end of our story.
Ahhh well this is really quite something there. The idea of the sister managing to be so positive and smile all the time for this person despite clearly fighting what appears to have been a losing battle there really drives home some powerful emotions here. And the almost matter of fact declaration of how it ended seals that deal quite beautifully.
Why did it have to be my dear sister? What wrong had she done? She definitely wasn’t at fault. She was the ideal sister, the perfect daughter, and the greatest friend. Then why was she stolen from me? It seemed unfair, like the whole world had lined up against me.
The whole affair seemed like an ever-flowing river had suddenly become still, as if it were a stagnant stream all along — life just didn’t feel the same, or even good to begin with.
For days upon days, I refused to eat, or do anything. I’d shut myself up in the attic, sobbing uncontrollably with her pictures held in my hand. The Fujifilm bearing her image dampened with the tears and they kept on dropping.
Well that seems pretty much inevitable there. I think you paint a pretty solid picture of the kind of grief that tends to follow something as hurtful as that moment and you go through the stages of it pretty well as far as showcasing these person's thoughts are concerned.
Then, my mother gave me your book. It felt weird at first, then hitting too close to home. But in the end, it gave me some kind of comfort from this unforgiving grief, a kind of respite. It worked almost like a drug — whenever I read it, I found some comfort, and a feeling that she was still alive, looking with enthusiasm for me. However, just like drugs, I grew addicted to this book.
I began feeling the uneasy urge to pick this book up again. I couldn’t think of anything else but the older sister looking for the little sister.
I decided to write this letter, honestly, because I wanted to rid myself of two very bad feelings — that of the grief surrounding Julia, and this weird and addictive attachment I had grown to this book.
Well this is an interesting idea there. I'm assuming this means this book was some sort of guide in terms of navigating through grief and that's a pretty interesting way to try and look at this situation. I don't know if I've ever seen something quite like this before.
Aaaaand that's it for this one.
Overall: Overall I think its something quite interesting to explore here. I see that there's a few more parts of this out there so I'm going to be running through those two to see where this goes.
As always remember to take what you think was helpful and forget the rest.
Stay Safe
Harry
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