Willing

There are a few similes that I really like in this story. For example, when she says that "it came out wrong, like a lizard with a little hat on" (pg. 416). It's just a funny and unique way to describe something. Another one is the piano keys that are "shiny and mocking like an opened bone" (pg. 423), which references an earlier statement that "she could rip open a bone and speak out of it" (pg. 414). It's an interesting image of her pain, a broken bone that speaks. I think both similes reflect well on the ability of the writer because they aren't boring or predictable.

I also like one particular character detail, that Tommy "had made himself the make-believe author of a make-believe book of essays called One Man's Opinion, and when he was bored or inspired, he quoted from it" (pg. 412). It's the kind of specific detail that gives the character an identity, and it also emphasizes their friendship that they have a recurring inside joke. I thought it was humorous, like speaking in the third person, something that's obnoxious and playfully self-deprecating about his opinions.

One thing I didn't necessarily like is the way she uses comparisons to describe things. For example, "She thought of it as a cross between London and Queens, with a dash of Cleveland" (pg. 412). Later, "She felt like a cross between Anna Karenina and Amy Liverhaus..." (pg. 422). Also, "...a cross between shyness and derision" (pg. 420). I think it leaves too much for the reader to fill in. Somewhere between shyness and derision is kind of vague, it's not a sharp description. How many people have been to London, Queens, and Cleveland? How many have read "Anna Karenina"? If the reader doesn't know those cities or that character, then the references might go over their head. If they do know them, they don't necessarily have the same impression as the author. I guess that can be said about any description or reference, it has to mean something to the reader, so maybe these comparisons aren't any different. But I don't know if I would use them, or at least very rarely.

Could the story be told in the first-person, or would Sidra's state of mind make it an unreliable perspective?