The Things that Make Us Stronger
From the beginning, we feel that we are in the hands of an unreliable narrator. Lauren’s deceiving her mother, having a no-strings attached sexual relationship with a boy she barely knows (and that’s the way she wants it) and attempting to bury a horrific memory. She gives no real details about that experience but the scant details are harrowing indeed.
The paragraphs drop tantalizing hints that our narrator is engaging in questionable behavior. She’s drinking too much or trying to stay sober. She’s suffering from PTSD. She’s going to a party to escape her mother’s new boyfriend—what does she have against him? She pushes herself too hard at running, obviously running away from…something. Someone unknown is texting her but she says nothing to anybody. She was in therapy but hid things from her counselor. Her life back in California became a train wreck but why?
Then the chapters end with a shock that sends ripples through the reader. Has Lauren stumbled from the frying pan into a white-hot supernova? This story just got very provocative indeed.
The paragraphs drop tantalizing hints that our narrator is engaging in questionable behavior. She’s drinking too much or trying to stay sober. She’s suffering from PTSD. She’s going to a party to escape her mother’s new boyfriend—what does she have against him? She pushes herself too hard at running, obviously running away from…something. Someone unknown is texting her but she says nothing to anybody. She was in therapy but hid things from her counselor. Her life back in California became a train wreck but why?
Then the chapters end with a shock that sends ripples through the reader. Has Lauren stumbled from the frying pan into a white-hot supernova? This story just got very provocative indeed.