DMt. wrote:When I saw the thread title I thought it was a comment on writing this piece!
It kind of was! I wrote the title out, then realized how it sounded. It kind of seemed appropriate with how I felt, so I left it that way.
moonvibe34 wrote:Well, it was very well written yet very hard to read. It's always difficult when we experience the unpleasant trials of our loved ones firsthand. I do think you uncovered a scenerio that could easily befall our Oskar and Eli. Survival has many paths. Great writing and storytelling.
Thank you very much! I appreciate your kind words!
a_contemplative_life wrote:This was very dark. The image of Eli lying on her back, as you described, was very disturbing and poignant. It reminded me a little of the attempted rape scene in the novel. Oskar's reaction was, of course, natural.
Trust me I know. It's one of those situations where I felt compelled to write it, but hated doing it. I tried to keep it as vague as possible, but even then, it's incredibly distasteful.
There is a very moving aspect to Eli's character that makes many of us experience feelings akin to those you have ascribed to Oskar in your story; a desire to alleviate suffering, to pull Eli up out of her darkness. I suppose it is the juxtapositioning of her young age and basic innocence with the terrible things that have happened to her that make her character eternally interesting, at least to me.
I agree completely. I think it's a large part of what a lot of people here feel. The desire to protect a character that has suffered terribly. It's almost funny how we can overlook all of the dark deeds she has done though. It's almost exactly as she describes it in the novel. She is small. PEople want to help her.
I would only add that I cannot see the novel Eli doing what is written here. Not when she never even really let Hakan touch her.
I waffle back and forth on this issue. For me, the Eli from the film? Absolutely not. She seems powerful and in control of the world around her, except in situations involving Oskar. The Eli from the novel though, I'm not sure about. A lot of this comes from another thread on these boards discussing Eli's past "helpers". The basic idea being that maybe she had had to do unsavory things to survive, possibly dealing with characters that were stronger than Hakan.
The other thought I had was: What would Eli do to protect Oskar? Now, I didn't convey this well unfortunately. Re-reading it, I didn't convey the urgency of their situation. But imagine I did. If Eli and Oskar were in a horrible predicament, and Oskar was in danger, what would Eli do to help him?
I honestly do not have an answer to this...
Microwave Jellyfish wrote:
It's a good story, by the way, I enjoyed it (well, as much as you can actually "enjoy" reading scenes like this). The only problem I have is that Oskar comes off as a way too naive kid when he wonders about how Eli pays for the place. He knows how easily Eli handles money, so being in a bad mood because of that, well, it'd be strange from her.
Thanks! I was a little worried about the naivety aspect. I admit Oskar comes off looking a little daft in that regard. My only problem was that I purposely wanted to keep it short. Essentially a single scene. I couldn't find a way to fill this gap in a satisfactory way. My inexperience coming to play.
I think jellmoo's story would be way more tragic if Oskar wasn't that surprised of someone doing that with Eli, but feel more like his worst nightmare was coming true, something that never was a clear, explicit thought in his mind, but he nevertheless always feared deep inside.
That would be an interesting idea. I hadn't thought about it to be honest. That would have made it an even darker story though, and I don't know if I could have gone there. Having Oskar *know* what was happening? That makes my skin crawl even more.
However, I know that this type of thing was implied in the book, and I applaud your effort to bring that brutal part of her life into focus.
