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Reconciliation  by Larner 6 Review(s)
KittyReviewed Chapter: 10 on 5/2/2006
Now I have an idea how it started that Sam became Mayor :) It had to take some time, I suppose, as not everyone in the Shire would agree for a mere gardener – as they probably think of him – to become Mayor.
And I am glad Sam felt at home in Buckland and was able to visit all the places where Frodo lived and where he had some good memories of him.

Author Reply: Yes, I think it did take those six years with Will hanging on as Mayor before the Shire was ready to accept Sam as Mayor; and I suspect he was one of the best they ever had.

And I do think he'd feel at home in Buckland at last, now that his travels throughout much of the rest of the known world had prepared him to appreciate how much of his own land he remained in ignorance of.

Reviewed Chapter: 10 on 5/2/2006
Tedicus,


"He was shown Frodo’s favorite place to sit in the Master’s private garden, and Merry took him up on top of the ridge into the Hall was dug to see the place to which Frodo would retreat when angry or upset or just needing privacy."

Sorry to be critical Larner, but the sentence is lacking something.
Did you mean:
"Merry took him up on top of the ridge into (where-which) the Hall was dug"?

Unfortunately I can't find any humor in this, however I thought you might
like a bit of constructive criticism. It's a minor grammatical glitch not
a contextual problem. If you knew how many mistakes I caught myself making
in just this review, you would know my admiration that you can construct
such a literary edifice with so few flaws in it.
Here's hoping I got them all.


Author Reply: Oh, thank you so much, Tedicus. I'm sorry I missed it the first time around.

Will do my best to correct it right away.

Have been fighting continuing problems with computers on three sides at the same time. I may eventually get my desktop finished so I can get updated finally. Am SO very tired of not having proper access to the computer at home. The last program I've faced appears to have been virus and Trojan related, and would so like to get some of the hackers who create such things into a room together and lock them away for some time so they can better appreciate how much sheer hatred they generate in innocent folk who want only to be able to get online and find the information we please without constant interruption and damage to our computers and how they work.

Author Reply: You were right, and I humbly apologize for my flippancy. I need to rest more, I think, before writing replies. Thank you for your patience.

The latest spyware sweeps have appeared to fix my problems, so hopefully there won't be too many more problems such as the last one.

Thanks for aiding me to police my own writing.

Linda HoylandReviewed Chapter: 10 on 4/30/2006
So many memories for Sam,combined with new experiences.He is growing into what he will become.

Author Reply: Yes, Sam is learning more about his Master, and coming more to terms with what he now is and will become as time passes. And all are better appreciating Frodo's final choices.

Reviewed Chapter: 10 on 4/29/2006
He was shown Frodo’s favorite place to sit in the Master’s private garden, and Merry took him up on top of the ridge into the Hall was dug to see the place to which Frodo would retreat when angry or upset or just needing privacy.


There is something a bit odd with this one Larner.

Author Reply: Can you give me some more indication of what you find odd here.

When sitting with my family in our backyard or around the picnic table as a child I had MY spot to sit; but when I wanted total privacy I'd head out to certain places in the woods or elsewhere about the property where I'd hide out until I felt better able to go back and make it up with whomever I'd quarreled with, and so on.

How would you suggest I rewrite it to make this better or more clear?

AntaneReviewed Chapter: 10 on 4/28/2006
But at least I know as he now has the chance to become as he was afore, and hopefully more than he was, if you take my meanin’. He has the finest healers aside him, and old Mr. Bilbo for company, and old Gandalf for teachin’ and the showin’ of the way. He won’t always find his shoulder achin’ and his head a-poundin’. I hope as they’ll finally clean out whatever it is as makes the bite on his neck keep comin’ up infected so as it’ll finally heal. I hope as he’s so surrounded by beauty as he’ll member us here always with hope and love and not just with longin’. And I hope as his Light’ll shine and be appreciated by all as sees him, not like here where a full half or more looked on him with envy or without understandin’


Lovely!

Namarie, God bless, Antane :)

Author Reply: I'm so glad you find it feels right, Antane. This is how I'm certain Sam in the end would feel about his master's removal to Tol Eressea, the hope that Frodo would find restoration and more.

Thanks so much for your response.

DreamflowerReviewed Chapter: 10 on 4/28/2006
I'm so glad that Sam got the chance to finally really visit Buckland, and to see Brandy Hall, and appreciate the place where Frodo grew up. There was such an air of quiet enjoyment in the visit, and I loved Sam's conclusions about visiting Buckland when he finally left. I like to think there was nearly as much coming and going (allowing of course for new responsibilities and growing families) as there had been before, between there and Bag End. Sam, Merry and Pippin are now the best of friends, and it can't help but be a good thing.

I also like the little visit to Will, and Will's conclusion about the next Mayor. I'd love to see you do a story about his first approaching Sam, and asking him to take on the job.

*sigh* I hate to see this coming to an end...

Author Reply: Yes, at last Sam is able to see where Frodo spent much of his childhood and to get a true feel for that period of time before Sam himself knew him (or at least before the time he would have known him well, I think). Now Sam is finally becoming a citizen of the Shire at large as well as being a citizen of the world beyond the Shire's borders. It's amazing how few people know little about the region in which they live. I know that I grew up rarely leaving a thirty-mile radius around my home, although I knew the route well from our home on the west coast to my grandparents' homes very well from regular visits there. I knew more about the topography and geography of other states than I did of the state in which I myself lived, which of course is ridiculous. Marrying a husband with wanderlust finally gave me the chance explore much of my home state, and my own children saw far more than just our state, and indeed had an intimate knowledge of much of British Columbia and had traveled in Europe and England as well as all the states on the coast.

I hadn't considered a story about Sam being drafted by Will as his successor; but certainly Sam's first day as Mayor is addressed in my next (VERY short) story to begin posting tonight, I think.

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