Silver Water- Kind of late but I wanted to write about it...

Blog 6: What writing techniques does Bloom use to create and maintain tension in her story? How does she pull you into the narrative?

Amy Bloom uses several techniques to create and maintain tension in her story including her use of dialogue, tense, syntax/diction, and foreshadowing. Her use of imagery also creates such a concise image of setting in our head, that as readers we are more emotionally invested in the story because it is as though we are there and are witnessing the plot unfold ourselves, or at least that is how I read it. Right from the start, Bloom uses beautiful detail about Violet's sister that is almost enchanting.

 "My sister’s voice was like mountain water in a silver pitcher; the clear blue beauty of it cools you and lifts you up beyond your heat, beyond your body." This is by far one of my favorite lines in the whole story; it creates an image that no one would think to imagine and right off the bat that Violet thinks very highly of her sister. But then as we read further, the dreamy, idealistic "fantasy" that the speaker spoke of completely changes.  This shift in tone/drama creates tension and made me anxious to see what happens next. In addition, Violet started speaking of her sister in the past tense, which led me to believe that Rose dies, so I was waiting for it. I began to feel really bad for Rose as the story progressed and it seemed like her conditions were gradually worsening, the whole time I remained on the edge of my seat waiting for something really bad to happen and finish Rose off. It was as though Roses' condition was deteriorating right before my eyes. There was this constant build up of tension, stress and unfortunate events, tied together with superb detail and imagery, that made me emotional, which is silly because this is a fictional story (I think)

We started to get to a more calm place when Rose speaks of driving to the zoo and recalls Violet being scared but would then pick up the pace right as things began to relax and finally we see Rose die. I was anticipated her death obviously right off the bat, but because Bloom made Rose seem so real and described her/spoke of her through Violet, her beloved sister, I grew attached and her death hurt a little. So thanks for the heart break Amy.

- XOXOXOXO
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