Issue 197

1. Velicia Jerus Darquenne’s piece hauntingly reminds me of being a young girl growing up Appalachia. I think it’s beautiful and sad and chaotic. Her female character is strong and resilient, living within the conflicts of class and neglect. It’s not a tale of overcoming, but of surviving. I look forward stories like this one.

2. Velicia Jerus Darquenne perfectly captures the fear and loathing of a young girl threatened by an older boy. Cole knows his step-sister won’t be listened to even if she does tell, and that she won’t tell because her mother’s happiness will be threatened. Such complexity of family dysfunction captured in a short, tight, piece.

3. Velicia Jerus Darquenne’s piece touches home as it perfectly embodies the harsh realities of growing up as a young girl in a dysfunctional family. In such a short, detailed story she manages to bring you into the mind of a terrified, trapped young girl who has no one else to lean on but herself. It’s captivatingly evocative and leaves me wanting to read so much more.

4. I don’t think I breathed as I read Velicia Jerus Darquenne’s story. I feared for that young girl being led astray in the woods. I feared Cole, the older boy with bad intentions. But this piece goes even deeper, and this girl has much wisdom. She knows woods, if not these in particular, and she knows how to find her way home; she knows what Cole is really up to–causing ruckus in this make-shift family. She knows ginseng is sold by the pound. Wonderful, wise, story.

5. I read Velicia Jerus Darquenne’s peice twice. She was able to make the reader experience so many emotions in only a few paragraphs. Velicia took such a crippling/tragic scenio and made the reader feel the strength of the girl and even added a touch humor. The whole thing left me wanting more. What a beautifully written peice written by someone who is obviously very talented.

6. Velocity Darquenne’s story is honest and complicated, Cole’s motive is terrible however we read it.

Comments are closed.