Review: Emotional mess, I am.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 01 18, 2014
I must start with a confession. I'm not a fan of Vonnegut. But I am a fan of Howey. So as I do when any new book of his is released, I bought it. Didn't expect to love it.I was so wrong.In this short story, Howey takes us from a distant world to one that was way too close. Back and forth I moved, never confused about what I was reading. Firmly entrenched in both worlds. Desperately wanting there to be another ending. We writers re-write all the time. Why couldn't Hugh Howey change the ending? Why must he make me feel so damn much?Regarding the 9/11 story, it was painful. Painful and beautiful.Seeing 9/11 from his eyes, from his pain moved me immeasurably. That day I was working at a Crisis Hotline and we fielded calls continually. Most moving to me were the people who were at Ground Zero working with the victims. We helped debrief the debriefers.Howey brought that back to me. But the final feeling, the final thing he left me with was HOPE! Hope after 9/11, hope after being imprisoned in a Tralfamadorian culture.Love your writing even more than I did earlier, Hugh. Thanks for making me feel this again. And thanks for leaving me with hope.