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| Moments in Time by Larner | 13 Review(s) |
|---|---|
| Kitty | Reviewed Chapter: 25 on 1/29/2007 |
| Sorry for the late review - tried at least twice before, but kept being interrupted every time until I gave up. Very frustrating. Pippin knows his cousin so well - I was glad he knew Merry would need him. I truly love the way how they are there for each other. And Melilot was a nice addition to this chapter - she was so understanding and asked the right questions to get them to talk about the Quest and all that without making them too sad. It is good to have them talking about it - I think they need it. Pippin has done his duty very well, it seems, as Merry forgot his grief enough to ask Estella finally to marry him :-) How very fitting to use the ring Frodo gave him. Oh, and it was very nice of Dahlia to sent him the sculpture of Lindir as a little comfort. I think it meant a lot to him. Author Reply: In the story I wrote about Sam and the picture Frodo painted for Dahlia I indicated she intended to send another gift she'd received from him and Merry to Merry this Yule, and I wanted to see what it was. But that first Yule without Frodo must have been pretty difficult. I do think that Merry would have married fairly soon after Frodo left, and that Frodo, having foreseen it was likely, would have done something special to try to let Merry know he was all for it before he left. After all, Merry was his first surrogate brother, I think. As for doing reviews and having them interrupted--have been going through that for days. Having a satellite connection in need of a newer receiver, I get intermittent reception on many days, so it's become almost a given any more. | |
| Bodkin | Reviewed Chapter: 25 on 1/14/2007 |
| I can see Eglantine's frustration - she wants her own lad there to see that he's all right. But the lad has grown up, and now takes responsibility for others. I like the proposal ... not very romantic, perhaps, but spoken in front of witnesses! And the suggestion that Mac has already done the business, back when they were children. Mourning the past - but moving towards the future. They just have to, really. Not much else they can do. They'll always regret that they couldn't help Frodo heal. Author Reply: Mac has definitely preserved the marriage contract Merry and Estella badgered a student Brendilac into writing for a play wedding they bullied Frodo into officiating at back when Frodo and Brendi were tweens and they were but children; and now, with Frodo's grandmother's ring as promise token, the two of them are going to do it for real, and at least have the feeling that Frodo is as much a part of this wedding as he was of the play one so many years previous. No, not particularly romantic, but Merry's making certain no one will be in any doubt of his intentions. And life is, so often, moving through the grief of the past into the joys of the present and the anticipation of future events. As you note, not much else they can do; but in letting Frodo go they've done all they can to aide him in healing, and in the end that is enough. And all the conspirators and would-be conspirators are beginning to share what they must for their own healing, and realize they can hold to one another. Thanks! | |
| Linda Hoyland | Reviewed Chapter: 25 on 1/14/2007 |
| A very human and familiar scenario of the pain of not being there for a festival.Very touchingly told. Author Reply: Christmas is often the hardest holiday to get through when grief is present--so many folks, including my late husband told me and so I've found myself in the last couple years as I've found the loss of him grows worse. Thanks so for the review. | |
| Radbooks | Reviewed Chapter: 25 on 1/12/2007 |
| Oh, this was very, very good, Larner! I enjoyed seeing Merry and Pippin together... grieving together and mostly that Pippin was there to comfort Merry during that time. Even though it was difficult for Pippin, Merry was even closer to Frodo and the loss was even harder for him. Loved how Merry proposed to Estella! That was a great way to do it. :) I think there is an extra line at the very end of the story that doesn't belong there. Author Reply: Yes, a line got lost elsewhere and turned up at the end, so I just took it out--or at least I think I did. Yes, Merry was closer to Frodo than was Pippin, and I do think that Pippin would desire to make certain he was handling his first Yule with no promise of seeing Frodo well. Grief is such a funny thing, coming and going in waves as it does. But I think that Frodo already had a strong idea where Merry's heart was going, and would have wanted in some way to be a part of it, even if it was contributing his grandmother's ring to the process. And now, when he looks at the marriage contract Brendi wrote so long ago, he and Estella will remember it was Frodo who officiated the "first" time, and who always wished to see each happy, even if it meant playing at pretend marriages with children as a rehearsal for what one day would come. | |
| Grey Wonderer | Reviewed Chapter: 25 on 1/12/2007 |
| Wonderful as always. I loved Melilot in this one and how she helped just by listening and asking the right questions. I also enjoyed the way Pippin had to be the strong one this time. The moment in the beginning with Pippin and Esmeralda when he first arrived at the Hall showed how worried they both were about Merry. It also showed how close Pippin is to his Aunt and how well she knows him. I cried along with Merry and the stuffed pony but I was smiling by the end of this one. Author Reply: Grief gets worse and then better, as we remember what we've lost, and the joy we had. Even though Frodo isn't dead, he isn't HERE, which is almost the same; and they can't look to even communicate clearly with him during the remainder of their lives. But Frodo found ways of being there for his cousin-brother the day he proposed marriage, and had already shown Merry that even for himself grief could still come, the first time he visited after Bilbo was gone, and he found himself missing both Bilbo and his own parents so intensely. So glad you like the relationship between Pippin and Esme--I think it would be close, and felt even more so after reading some of the stories of Pippin, Esme, and the fairy-ancestress. | |
| Armariel | Reviewed Chapter: 25 on 1/11/2007 |
| Awww nice.....cozy and nostalgic and sweet....and that about the stuffed pony *sniff* my favorite part........ ~~~{~@ Author Reply: Christmas is often the most difficult of holidays for those who are grieving, and I am certain this would have been true for Frodo after his parents and later Bilbo left him, and now for the conspirators, and especially Merry and Pippin. Frodo was Merry's older brother in all but blood, and Merry is Pippin's. And I've always felt Pippin would feel a moral obligation to help others through their griefs by making certain they have reason to laugh and know joy. So glad you liked the stuffed pony. | |
| cookiefleck | Reviewed Chapter: 25 on 1/11/2007 |
| Very nice story... thanks! I liked how you wove so much into it. Loved the little bit about the book... I am picturing Sam reading it. :o) Author Reply: I have Sam reading it in "For Eyes to See as Can," after all, so felt a copy ought to have been here in Brandy Hall, too, and probably Frodo used it in teaching his cousins as Bilbo and his parents probably had used it to teach him and as Bilbo had used it to teach Sam. Yes, I can see Sam reading it, too. | |
| Antane | Reviewed Chapter: 25 on 1/11/2007 |
| Well, that was a bit hard to get through but marvelous anyway - all the little bits of Frodo and his love for others still left in the Shire, the first book that Sam read to himself, the loss still so fresh - I knew you would find me - I could just hear Merry saying that, Merry and Pippin curling up together just as they had during the Quest, the celebration when Frodo first moved on his own... I know I'm forgetting some parts but these are some of my favorites. :) Namarie, God bless, Antane Author Reply: Yes, I think at this point Pippin and Merry would begin to share what happened with the other conspirators and near-conspirators, for I think that Freddy and Folco would need to know, and Brendi, as I write him in my stories, would also want to know more details from other folks' point of view, having heard some of it from Frodo himself. Yes, it's a bit of a wandering story, and I'm glad you could get through it after all. And I think at times Pippin and Merry would find themselves reverting to how they acted when isolated from the others during the quest. | |
| Queen Galadriel | Reviewed Chapter: 25 on 1/11/2007 |
| Joy and sorrow shone so well. The grief for Frodo mingled with the joy of new hope and promise on the horizon. Beautiful. And I love Dahlia's gift to Merry--how thoughtful! God bless, Galadriel Author Reply: I managed to slip Dahlia's other gift into the story, having written the one about Sam already. And in the end I think somehow this one would mean the more to Merry. Yes, the grief and joy would be mixed, as I believe you have experienced yourself. But Frodo wanted to support Merry as he could once Merry made the commitment to marry Estella, and if all he could do to do so was to provide a family ring as the wedding token, it would be what he would do. | |
| AspenJules | Reviewed Chapter: 25 on 1/11/2007 |
| Wonderful, Larner! I just loved this, and was intrigued by the range of emotions this little story brought out, being bittersweet, sweet, cozy, joyful, and that emotion that makes you say "AWWWWWWW" when Dahlia sends the statue and Merry proposes (can't find a name for that one.) I think most of all I loved how the little group in Frodo's room grew from just Merry to all the friends. It's like Frodo is drawing them together still. Also, the conversation in the room was so realistic, just kind of rambling from one topic to another, as a conversation among a group of friends is wont to do. It was comfortable, open, relaxed and yet intimate. Their reminiscences of times from their childhood to the time of the Conspiracy, to after their return were enlightening, and I just felt like I was there and accepted. But then later, when Pip finds Merry alone in Frodo's earliest rooms, there I felt like a distant observer, which was also appropriate because that was a grief shared only between those two. The whole dynamic of the story made me feel like I was there, was one of the friends. Very well done, Larner, very very well done. Author Reply: Thank you, AspenJules. Apparently I managed to communicate the natural ebb and flow of emotions just as I'd intended. For my husband, the first Christmas we had together as husband and wife was a very sad one, as he found himself mourning for the Christmases he would no longer be able to share with his father and ex-wife. The marriage may have been long over, but it was the first time he felt safe, I think, to mourn for the good lost--the bad done with he could handle better, he found. Thank you so much for your review. | |