The first thing that grabbed me about Boyle's story was the voice. After finishing it, I read (at least the first two paragraphs--damn subscriptions) the article that inspired Boyle. And the voice here seems to have this informal reporting tone. Especially in parts on page 139. "What else? The rain, of course. It came midway through the third day...And the sex. They were careful...always careful." Even if I felt like the voice was just reporting on events, it still brought in the subjective view of China and Jeremy with instances like, "He would be there for her no matter what, but why did she have to be so stupid?"
The voice being this informal reporting of a subjective view makes me question sentences like, "...they kissed whenever they met, no matter where or when, even if one of them had just stepped out of the room, because that was love, that was the way love was..."
It's a really great way for me to understand how Boyle wants me to view this relationship without actually saying, "Hey guys, young love is pretty shallow. So when Jeremy and China say they're in love, just put an asterisk next to that, okay?"
And Holy Crap, I need to take a thing or two from this guy's use of imagery. It's really great. "...like kissing a steak through a plastic wrapper." Man, that's a good one.
Also, capitalizing dumpster showed so much about Jeremy's character. While at first the voice shows no trauma from the event that affected Jeremy and denies that he knew the baby was alive, having dumpster capitalized showed me that he actually was traumatized in a way. It became that thing we don't talk about. It become something more significant than it was letting on. I think that was excellent.
Lot to learn here.
Yes, the imagery . . . it's never overdone, always resonant, and at just the right emotional moments.
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