Another Stage is a memoir account of a fourteen year old girl whose mother is diagnosed, and subsequently treated and cured, of stage four lymphoma cancer. The opening of the story is interesting, because I was trying to figure out why Callie was crying so much. I thought initially that it must be because she was nervous about cutting her mom's hair, but it seemed like it was something more serious. As soon as the shaved head was mentioned, I got the picture. It was an effective way to keep a reader reading.
I liked the mention of the orthodontist and the rubber bands. I feel like getting checked out for appointments is a fond memory that everybody has, and as someone who also had braces when they were young I can relate to the selection of the cheesy, stupid holiday themed rubber bands.
Dialogue was sparse, but well done. I never caught myself thinking about the dialogue, which is good because usually the only time I ever stop to think about dialogue is when it's awkward or doesn't fit. There was a big problem with this story though. There isn't much to it besides a story of a mother who overcomes cancer, and her story is kind of distant. We never really see much of the mother's struggle, emotional or otherwise. Likewise, we see Callie cry a couple times but there is no description of the emotional turmoil behind it. I found myself not very emotionally invested in a story that has the potential to be very poignant and dramatic. Not bad overall, but maybe we could use a few more scenes of interaction between mother and daughter, maybe a sweet moment between husband and wife Callie witnesses, and definitely more dialogue as I feel that dialogue is potentially an untapped strength for Callie in this paper.
No comments:
Post a Comment