1 [Report This]Date: October 05, 2020 07:58 pm Title: Chapter 8
This chapter is just lovely! I mean so many wonderful moments between the two of them. Jim starting to learn sign language. Cece beating him at chess. Just the time they share together.
However it all kicks up a notch with the start of the heart-to-heart that ends all heart-to-hearts. I just love it so, SO much. How they start to draw strength and courage from each other. How they're honest about each other. How they trust each other. Beautifully written.
Then a prank there at the end for that right bit of levity. You're right Cece is being a bad-ass and I'm hear for every minute of it. Hopefully I haven't run out of jellybeans by now cause this chapter deserves all of them.
Author's Response: Eric you ALWAYS warm my heart, I love your thought out reviews, I look to forward to them each chapter, and you always put so much effort in. I needed to write a chapter that showed the true beauty in Jim and Cece’s relationship, and how vulnerable they’re both being with each other which as you get older becomes even more hard. Especially as a changing 11 year old girl. Cece is such a bad ass in my mind, and even though she’s not dealing with some of the skeletons in her closet, I think it’s important for her to start to open up about what she saw and what she remembers. Thank you so much for these reviews, and of course I had to throw a prank in there too!
Date: October 05, 2020 07:00 pm Title: Chapter 8
This is a very sweet chapter, especially coming on the heels of such a heavy one.
You've sold the idea of Jim and Cece really *needing* each other to move forward - she's tough and she's growing up, but she needs some guidance from her dad right now as she goes through a major change in her life, and he needs someone to give him some strength at a time he feels weak. Crucially, she seems to understand on some level that what will give him strength is knowing that she needs him to be strong, and her revealing the truth about what she saw during the accident reminds him of that.
(Also, the note about the slime is GENIUS. That stuff could get any parent moving. As is the thing about her ignoring her dad by literally positioning herself so he can't hear him. She's a great kid, but she's definitely showing some very real signs of teenage difficulty.)
I also appreciate the bittersweet notes of a father seeing his little girl growing up - and a father who has missed some of that growing up, and feels guilty both about that and the sense that he's forced it on her.
Finally - I loved the Beach Games callback. (I am deeply, deeply obsessed with the idea of how the Halperts will share their story and the documentary with their kids.)
Author's Response: Can I just say how much I truly appreciate your reviews? I look forward to them every chapter. You always put so much thought and effort into your reviews and I appreciate it so much! I really wanted the relationship between Cece and Jim to feel authentic, and real, and of course I am making some assumptions they’d be thick as thieves, but also I think as their first, and his girl, they have a specific bond that is strong. I think it’s important for him to see that she’s changed and also to accept what she saw that day, and we’ll continue to see that play out throughout the story.
Beach Games is one of my favorite episodes, and I think when it comes to Bravery, Pam showed so much there.
I had to throw in a prank, she is a Halpert of course.
The next chapter should be rather uplifting as well, maybe with a little heart ache too