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The First Fall (2000)

by Seanan McGuire(Favorite Author)

3.93 of 5 Votes: 2

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English

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review 1: Well. Who can read Seanan killing off a character - even one we barely know - and not cry? Not this lady. Especially when that character's a toddler. This story will tear your heart out slowly and stand - not stomp - on it until it gets squished. But I believe it does what it was meant to do, and that well and finely tuned. I am childfree by choice, which many people assume makes me a child-hater. It doesn't (though being one might make the story less painful to endure. I can't promise that). We never get to meet little Daniel, but somehow the ripples and waves - some almost tsunami-like - that his short life and his tragic death create in his small family make meeting him unnecessary to grieve for him, and for what his bereaved young parents feel in the aftermath. There's... more very little in life that compares to losing a member of your immediate family, and I know first-hand how it feels (having lost my mother when I was 16 and she just 46). This novella captures so, so very well all those feelings: the numbness, the tiny, brief flares of anger or resentment, the fragility surrounding the interactions of everyone involved and the fears, both of its happening to another loved one and of the damage breaking apart the remainder of the family in question.This is not an easy piece to read. If it were, it wouldn't be right. But then, from the summary, did you expect otherwise? It's a rough read. Have the tissues ready. It's worth it. Very much so.
review 2: This one moves back more toward the vignette category and, though I think McGuire did a pretty good job at showing us Jonathan and Fran's grief over Daniel, I didn't feel like I'd seen enough of Daniel or the period of time that contains Daniel's life to have a really visceral reaction to his death. My feelings are like they'd be for any acquaintance who went through such a terrible loss; there's sadness for their sadness, for the tragedy of a life cut short, but not the gutshot, like it is when you're really DEEP into a story (think Wash, in the movie Serenity). less

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