Monday, March 18, 2019

Woman in the Window

by Alyssa Symon from the March 11, 2019 issue

Tagline: After her divorce, Lucy Myers wasn't sure if she'd ever be able to love again--until a sweet delivery filled her heart with new hope.

Observations: When I read this story, I wasn't crazy about the beginning, but by the end of the story, I really enjoyed it.

First off, I thought I'd caught a spelling error - revery. I thought it was reverie. I've always spelled it reverie. But I looked it up and there it was on Dictionary.com.

Then, Lucy came off a little sadly desperate to me. Every morning, she sits and waits for this man to deliver her newspaper to the point where she's fussing with her hair before he gets there. Having read the complete story, I see that she has to be in the window every day, or else the poem wouldn't make sense.

I've been sitting here trying to figure out a way to make her not seem a little pitiful, and can't. But maybe it doesn't matter because a) it got published! LOL and b) by the end of the story, I didn't really care. I really liked 95% of the story. It was just that one paragraph that had me wrinkling my nose.

Photo credit: Jon S via Flickr CC license

6 comments:

Pat said...

I had similar thoughts about her sitting in the widow in the beginning. I pictured a lonely, old woman. Not one of my favorite stories. Only good point is that it did sell so the writer got paid.

Mary Jo said...

I thought it started out as a 19th century romance. Maybe a story like the Brownings...you know, that she was disabled or something. Maybe it is all in our imaginations.

Sandy Smith said...

It was a sweet story, but I agree with some of the comments about the beginning. I also noticed that the tagline said she wasn't sure if she could love again after her divorce, which sounds like it must be recent, but the story said it had happened long ago. So I would think she should be ready. I really liked the ending.

Pat said...

Mary Jo,
Disabled did cross my mind too, but then she went outside.

Jill Weatherholt said...

I appreciate your honest review, Kate. I will admit, life got crazy and now I’ve got 10 back issues of WW to catch up on.?

Jill Weatherholt said...

I appreciate your honest review, Kate. I will admit, life got crazy and now I’ve got 10 back issues of WW to catch up on.