FICTION

Reader Feedback on "Genesis"

Wow. Sorry not real articulate this morning. Just wow.
--CR
12/08

(w)HOL(l)Y Original Batgirl! Slamming literary summersplits on a cold Winter's Eve. But I gotta admit, the story enveloped me further into its fold as I read on and though I was uncertain whether or not I actually enjoyed what I was reading initially, I came to love it toward the end.
--BAM
11/20

Stop overthinking it, folks. Libaire's writing is intoxicating and entertaining. Enjoy something new. Bravo!
--CTM
11/18

I found “Genesis” both warm and provocative, almost like reading a long lyrical poem, comforting and titillating. Miss Libaire succeeds in creating an emotional paradox; just for minute you experience a rush of emotions that make you feel just a tad bit vulnerable and a tad bit voyeuristic. Who cares if the story is a parody or not, there is truth in there and for that alone the story makes it point.
--jlh
11/18

Agh. Lack of paragraph breaks in the comment section. Annoying. "For you leave comments without a purpose, & sometimes, all is question'd. Bang. Snap. Just fifteen more paragraphs to go, & then, a paycheck you will have. You write some stuff, you write some stuff, you write some more. You get paid! People think you're avant-garde! & then it's done!"
--
11/16

...Although this raises the further question; do we really need a non-good parody of 19th century writing that, without the parody aspect, would be a non-good short story? I mean, I can write a Hemmingway-esque parody of a standard Nerve twentysomethings dating short story: "He liked her. She liked him. They decided to go home together." Or I can do it up Samuel Beckett-style: "For to end yet again home alone in a dark place. He, she said. He, she said to him, to her. A dark skull alone in a dark place. Said him to her, "Do you. Want to. Come home with me." Bit by bit, the sand covered all. Bit by bit. "Yes," she said. "Yes maybe I would." Does any of this make me a genius, or have I just written a dumb parody?
--om
11/16

Really? It is a parody? I trust you, dude. If it really is a parody, I take it all back. Unless we're giving Ms. whatshername too much credit.
--om
11/16

Um, did you not see the Walt Whitman quote at the beginning? Of course it's a parody. I've read this author before. It's usually hyper stylized and bizarre but if you like it, you really like it,and if you don't you don't. It's just different, more cerebral. Not the samew as most of the stuff on this site. That's a good thing. Diversity.
--MCL
11/16

I really *want* to like Ms. Libaire's stories (and I've read several over the years on Nerve), I really do, but they always, to me at least, feel a bit *too* constructed, too forced, too much of the craft showing, and the artifice takes away from the really nice elements, leaving one ultimately feeling more annoyed at what could have been than anything else. Please don't take the criticism too harshly if you are reading this; such things are largely a matter of taste, and I am glad to see Nerve putting up *something* of substance again - I was about to remove the bookmark in disgust when I saw Ms. Carver's wonderful essay and this piece this week. Regards,
--DAD
11/14

Holy ampersands.
--ajh
11/14

send feedback on "Genesis"

back to "Genesis"