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"Orange Bird Flies Twice" by FortyHeavn (cross-cultural romance)
10, 8, 8
"Orange Bird Flies Twice" by FortyHeavn (fortyheavn@aol.com). There are some things that send up negative flags when I sit down to review a story. In this case Strike One (if I may mix my metaphors) was the fact that the author had the title wrong. It was listed as " Orange Bird Flies Twice" in the header but as "An Orange Bird Flew by Twice" at the top of the story. I ignored that problem and sent it out to a guest reviewer. Strike Two came when the guest reviewer sent it back, stating that he/she did not want to give the story a bad review. But heck, the second sentence - which was 142 words long - really did catch my attention, and so I decided to review the story myself. It all began (as the title suggested) when the woman saw an orange bird fly past the garden, and the man got up to look at it. As I read the story, I was stuck by the effective use of language and imagery. "Assuming a story develops," I told myself, "this isn't bad at all." The first third of the story consists mostly of summaries of Our Heroine's previous love affairs. The descriptions are a bit more introspective than I like - I prefer action to passive descriptions - but they were not bad - assuming a story develops. {I am writing this review as I go along. I sure as hell hope a story develops.} Well, a story DID develop. I thought it was pretty good. It was still more introspective than I would like, but many readers enjoy that sort of thing. I was reminded of E.M. Forster's style, but maybe only because we were dealing with a contemplative collision of European and Indian cultures. My only complaint with the story was that while it talked about passion, it really didn't convey this passion to me. But heck, I needed a break! Ratings for "Orange Bird Flies Twice" Athena (technical quality): 10 Venus (plot & character): 8 Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 8 |