Yeah: I think it's hard to make compelling--I think on its own it's easy to be either sentimental or cliche or just not-noticeable/possibly boring. But here it was none of those things.
I think the strangeness of the narrator's environment, and his supreme sense of ease and at-homeness there, when it was clear that it was actually both dangerous and austere, made his tender care of things compelling. Really Susanna Clark's a genius for how she established all that in a matter of a few paragraphs. I guess part of it was his unselfconscious voice and unrestrained affection.
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momijizukamori
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Date: 2021-10-03 10:39 am (UTC)I think the strangeness of the narrator's environment, and his supreme sense of ease and at-homeness there, when it was clear that it was actually both dangerous and austere, made his tender care of things compelling. Really Susanna Clark's a genius for how she established all that in a matter of a few paragraphs. I guess part of it was his unselfconscious voice and unrestrained affection.