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A review by kandicez
By the Silver Water of Lake Champlain by Joe Hill
4.0
A young, precocious ten year old finds...something washed up on the beach.
Hill does a great job narrating in the voice of a child. I love stories narrated by them, especially when they are believable children. Gail, our storyteller, is very believable. She is very intelligent and full of budding emotions which add to the sweetness of the tone.
She leaves the house to escape her parents' hangovers and three siblings bickering. On the beach she climbs a large "boulder" that she has never seen before and is joined by her friend Joel and his younger (bratty, is there another kind?) brother. Joel and Gail, who are obviously very taken with each other, soon discover that this is NOT a boulder. They fantasize what riches and fame will come their way because of it. Because it's a Hill story, it does not end happily.
I love that Hill is a confident enough writer to give us the bare bones of what has happened and then simply ends the story. He does not sum up. He supplies no conclusion, detail or repercussions. We get to fill all that in ourselves. In return for the trust we place in him, the writer, he trusts us, the readers, to fill in those blanks in a satisfactory way. Or not. :)
This story very much reminded me of Neil Gaiman and had I read it not knowing who wrote it I would have guessed him right off the bat. The closest story Hill has written to this "feel" is Pop Art and that happens to be one of my favorite short stories ever, so it's in good company.
Well worth the wait and 20 minute investment.
Hill does a great job narrating in the voice of a child. I love stories narrated by them, especially when they are believable children. Gail, our storyteller, is very believable. She is very intelligent and full of budding emotions which add to the sweetness of the tone.
She leaves the house to escape her parents' hangovers and three siblings bickering. On the beach she climbs a large "boulder" that she has never seen before and is joined by her friend Joel and his younger (bratty, is there another kind?) brother. Joel and Gail, who are obviously very taken with each other, soon discover that this is NOT a boulder. They fantasize what riches and fame will come their way because of it. Because it's a Hill story, it does not end happily.
I love that Hill is a confident enough writer to give us the bare bones of what has happened and then simply ends the story. He does not sum up. He supplies no conclusion, detail or repercussions. We get to fill all that in ourselves. In return for the trust we place in him, the writer, he trusts us, the readers, to fill in those blanks in a satisfactory way. Or not. :)
This story very much reminded me of Neil Gaiman and had I read it not knowing who wrote it I would have guessed him right off the bat. The closest story Hill has written to this "feel" is Pop Art and that happens to be one of my favorite short stories ever, so it's in good company.
Well worth the wait and 20 minute investment.