Some Breakable Things

But no one wants to hear you???re not okay, only that you will be, can be, already are. People want to be useful, you think, as you pat the umpteenth shoulder with a tepid hand.

I read this story online for free in text form, though the audiobook is also available for free as part of a collection by Nightfire.

Framed as a ghost story, this is more accurately an exploration of the unfair burden and guilt thrust upon survivors of emotional and physical abuse when their abusers also happen to suffer from suicidal tendencies. I found it hard to connect to due to the second-person narrative, as many of the reader-insert character's decisions run directly counter to what I'd have done and I'm not a fan of imagining the father who means so much to me as a vengeful, abusive ghost. However, despite not emotionally connecting to the character, I did connect to the narrative itself - especially the quote shared at the beginning of this review.

I feel that a first-person narrative would have far better suited this tale, but that's just me being infinitely tired of the “you did this, you feel that, you think the other” nature of second-person viewpoint writing. (I wonder if maybe this is a me problem related to personal experience. I'm not a person who likes to have others insist upon what I'm thinking or what I've done.)

Overall, a decent read and a fascinating exploration of handling the death of an abusive parent. The writing was a bit too flowery for my tastes, to the point I sometimes had no clue what was going on, but I always caught up mentally after a paragraph or two.