1 [Report This]Date: November 30, 2020 06:12 am Title: everything happens for a reason
I love the style of this. And the imitating Dwight-and-Angela prank (Gibbon!) And the "some people" section to give Karen a dignified exit.
9 [Report This]Date: May 18, 2008 10:00 am Title: everything happens for a reason
this is so, so, so lovely. LOVE jim/pam dressing up as dwight/angela to let them know they're on to them! great prank-ish thing. i love how you've written this, it's so pretty. and i loved this: Maybe he loved her then because of who she is now, which...means something. thank you so much, i really liked this.
10 [Report This]Date: March 30, 2008 09:55 pm Title: everything happens for a reason
Um, that's a no brainer: Totally going in my favorites.
So this was the first piece from your "back catalog" here at MTT that I tackled (mainly because it was at the top of the list -- sensible, no?) and I just adore it. Like seriously adore it because it is so full of these beautiful lines and phrases that I don't even know where to begin.
Ok, I do, but you know what I mean.
He asks, and she smiles, again, and he can feel it to his toes, his knees, his ears; and he hasn't seen her smile like that in a long time - or it's not just in a long time, it's never, and it hurts and heals to know that it may just be because it's him. Ummmmm, so, YEAH. This made tears literally spring to my eyes. Maybe it was because I wasn't expecting it or maybe it's just because it's freaking amazing. I don't even think I know how to articulate for you what it is about these lines that I love so much because I kind of feel like if I dissected it into individual beats or words it would lose all of its power. Just...GAH.
Something is released, and there's less between them; scabs peel for new skin, new hope, and they can breathe now, finally. I love the idea that when the scars heal and the scabs peel away, it's hope you find buried beneath the pain and the damage. Lovely.
Maybe he loved her then because of who she is now, which...means something. It's really wonderful how this sentence doesn't make sense...except for the way that it so completely does and you can feel what it means even if you can't properly articulate it. You know?
Um, and I'd kind of like to quote that entire section about how Pam likes that Jim is tall and Jim likes that Pam is colorful because it is just beautiful. Beautiful and silly and sweet all at the same time. Not to mention the entire section of their outing at a dressy-dress-and-fancy-suit restaurant because even though they may not be in sync with the rest of the world, I love that they are always in sync with their own rhythm, with one another.
So, yeah, this is absolutely going into my favorites. And you just need to embrace the fact that you are a pretty amazing writer and your stuff is way better than "not dreadful" -- it's really more like "entirely brilliant". So there.
OH! And props for the John Mayer nod. Room For Squares was pretty much the soundtrack for my quarterlife crisis when it came out. LOVE that man.
[PS -- Deleted and reposted to add the John Mayer thing (which I forgot the first time around) and to remove the plethora of "kind of"s I managed to use here. I pretty much wanted to smack myself when I read the first version after posting so I thought I'd spare you (and everyone else) from that horror.]
Date: September 22, 2007 06:25 pm Title: everything happens for a reason
Love the descriptions and the quiet grace of the writing. Nothing overdone and nothing wasted. Wonderful.
Author's Response: Thank you so much! :) I decided to tone things down and keep them quiet - that's much of the essence of Jim and Pam, anyway.
9 [Report This]Date: September 12, 2007 09:38 am Title: everything happens for a reason
This is beautiful. I haven't had time to read much fic lately, but I'm glad I stumbled across this and I was excited to see that you've written something new!
This is just so quiet and soft, like how I imagine their relationship would be. I like that they still have their struggles but the fact that they fit so well together gets them past the rough parts. I loved their date where they try to be fancy, but end up being comfortable and themselves, as they always do.
Confrontation isn't their forte. But it's a slip of tongue, and then maybe-forgotten grievances, and they confront.
Somehow they're throwing their words before they think them, each a little puncture in the bubbles [shields] they've been living in for five years. They're tough bubbles, hardened with age - then again, the words are sharp. They know each other well enough to know what hurts them.
LOVELY.
Author's Response: Oh, man, I love you. ♥♥ Like, a lot. More than a lot, even. I'm glad you found this, too, because it seems no one can make me go as nuts with a review like you can. :D This is everything I want them to be, and I wanted it to show, and I'm beyond glad that it did. Thank you.
10 [Report This]Date: September 07, 2007 08:45 pm Title: everything happens for a reason
going in my favourites!
I don't even know how to express how much I love this. It's just so quietly beautiful. Bravo.
Author's Response:
I think Jim/Pam have a lot of potential - if only they stay quiet and tone down near the cameras. Oh, writers, please, please, please.
And thank you, so much. I'm glad it was passable. ;)
10 [Report This]Date: September 07, 2007 12:04 pm Title: everything happens for a reason
This is sooooo beautiful! Adding to my favorites!
Author's Response: !! Thank you!! :D
10 [Report This]Date: September 02, 2007 12:04 am Title: everything happens for a reason
This is really beautiful! Don't ever believe it isn't. :)
I think everyone here worries about their Jim and Pam being too mushy, or cheesy, or fluffy, but come on. Look at them! They are! At least, in their own way they totally are. And you conveyed that, the special ways they communicate and how they are together.
After all, you can't get anything but mush and fluff out of the way they simply look at each other. That is romance right there, and I, for one, am a fan of swooning. ;) Which Jim makes me do often. hehe
Excellent job! Definitely going into the 'favorites' category. :)
Author's Response: I think I am rather familiar with the Jim!swooning, yes. ;) And when Jim/Pam are adorable on screen, I go kind of insane, because they make you feel insane, right? !! They're amazing, so - here's to mush, cheese, and fluff, in moderate but special amounts. :D Thanks so much!
10 [Report This]Date: September 01, 2007 03:25 pm Title: everything happens for a reason
I'll take "going in my favorites," Alex. I seriously cannot express how amazingly brilliant this is. I'd choose a part of it to better illustrate my point but I can't because all of it is just ridiciously good. Just.. beautiful and stunning.
Author's Response: Thank you! So much, actually - because I was positive it would fall short in the light of the other amazing authors around here. :D I'm glad it hasn't!
8 [Report This]Date: September 01, 2007 12:47 pm Title: everything happens for a reason
I can tell by the title you're a John Mayer fan...and the first italicized paragraph confirmed it. This is a gorgeous story. I really enjoyed it.
Author's Response: Ah, your music taste FTW. Thank you so much. :D I loved writing this story, and I was hoping the feelings would transfer!
Date: September 01, 2007 10:08 am Title: everything happens for a reason
This was lovely. It was a great description of their relationship that is not overly idealized or pessimistic either. I really liked that the encounter with Roy was a nice, quiet moment where they both agree it's good they've moved on. I really enjoyed this story.
Author's Response: I want their whole relationship to be quiet, not bombastic or loud or a basic soap opera, and I love that it gets across. :D Thanks so much! ♥
Date: September 01, 2007 09:12 am Title: everything happens for a reason
Here's why I LOVE this: It's a quiet kind of loud. Perfect description for this gorgeous story - it's positively lush and so romantic - but it's real too. Their insecurities, flaws and doubts ring so true and create such in-character emotional depth.
Here's why else I love it: it's written. That may sound weird, but what I mean is that you haven't just communicated an interesting narrative; you've artfully used language give it color and resonance. And not in an overwritten way (my personal bugaboo) - clean, simple, elegant.
Too many great moments/lines/perceptions, but to cite a few:
When she reappears her tee-shirt is large and worn and her hair is wet and messy but she's grinning and almost skipping and he loves her.
He loves her. Perfectly eloquent, the way you used it. Says it all.
There's a layer less between them, chipped away and burned. The scars will heal. The feelings remain.
Recently wrote a Jim/Pam fight myself - and this line basically says what it took me +/-2400 words to convey ;-)
Maybe he loved her then because of who she is now, which...means something.
Yup. That's it.
Some people leave Dunder-Mifflin with their hearts left light, and their heads held high. Karen Filippelli is one of them.
Just as I imagine it. Love the repetition of some people too.
She loves his love: she loves him for him, she loves him for her. She loves him.
Again, such a clear, concise use of words. Like this story, so rich and evocative...one thing I disagree with: when a story is this well written, it ain't fluff (maybe my definition is different, but I hate to see a fic this lovely dismissed just cause it ends happily. Sometimes life happens like that too ;-)
Sorry to ramble on so...this review kind of got away from me ;-)
Author's Response:
Oh my goodness, I think it's safe to say I love you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I can't draw to save my life, so if I want to get the pictures and images across I need to use the only thing I can, which is language - and I'm glad I seem to have coloured within the lines. ;)
It's basically all that I want to see of them, of everyone, and I suppose this could be classified...real fluff, if that makes sense. Even if it doesn't, haha.
I kind of want to print this review out and frame it or something, because - thank you. :D
10 [Report This]Date: September 01, 2007 08:09 am Title: everything happens for a reason
Wow - I totally love this. I love the interactions with Roy and Karen - so well done. I also love the style, yeah, it's fluff and a tiny bit of angst, but the phrasing you used is such a great fit for this. Bravo!
Author's Response: hee, thank you! It's what I want to see, you know? Not just with Roy and Karen, the whole thing. Seriously - thank you. :D
Date: September 01, 2007 07:39 am Title: everything happens for a reason
Is it possible to be jealous of fictional characters? I love the way you describe their relationship. It's not perfect in the sense that they do fight and they do have issues, but it is perfect in the sense that it's so them. I loved the image of Jim and Pam imitating Dwight and Angela! And also I loved how you handled Karen and Roy and how it wasn't soap opera theatrics or out-of-character. And I absolutely loved this:
...how she hated how his hair looked for a while after Phyllis' wedding and she couldn't sketch anything of him.
I'm glad Pam even noticed Jim's end of Season 3 hair don't! I don't think this is cheesy at all. Great job :-)
Author's Response:
I think it is, because I am. [or maybe that's me deluding myself.] And I want Karen and Roy to be quiet [hah], because anything more completely defies all rules of not just Jim and Pam, but the show itself.
And I don't think there was anyone who didn't notice Jim's S3 hair-don't! :D Thanks so much for taking the time to tell me what you liked about this.
10 [Report This]Date: September 01, 2007 07:26 am Title: everything happens for a reason
That was just lovely. I really love your use of language.
Author's Response: I can't draw to save my life, so I try to use language instead in its place. :D Thank you! I was hoping I'd coloured within the lines.
10 [Report This]Date: September 01, 2007 06:41 am Title: everything happens for a reason
First off - John Mayer - awesome.
But, wow, I really love this. I loe how it is fluff, but it is also real, that Jim isn't (totally)perfect, and Pam is still a bit insecure. Really well written!
Don't worry, this really really is amazing and great.
Author's Response:
Thank you so much. :D Real fluff is exactly the kind of Jim/Pam I want [/need] to see in this next season, and I hope it works that way.
Also: your song taste FTW.