Silver Water

Amy Bloom conveyed tension from the very beginning when she gives the story in past tense. With this already in place, the story already felt rickety because of its almost inevitable end. She gives us this fresh image of two sisters in a parking lot after seeing an opera where one is singing/screeching so beautifully that everyone applauds her. This innocent scene gives the readers false hope and keeps them wondering what happened to this amazing sister. The moment I learned Rose was mentally ill, I felt a looming rain cloud over my head the rest of the story because I knew that this must end tragically. 

Amy Bloom also chose one of her main characters to be a little off and that usually doesn't end well especially in drama on television. Using unreliable characters always puts people on edge especially if they don't know much about them or too much of their background story. IT gives the entire story suspense and a constant wondering that keeps you on your toes. Bloom creates a beautiful sense of these characters and this close knit family over years of their lives in a few pages. She uses lots of imagery that sucks you in from start to finish. I felt invested in these characters because they were so well portrayed and given so much character. The therapy sessions always brought out the most character from the family because the actions and words each one had created an image where I felt as if I were sitting in the room with them. Bloom also placed details like nicknames such as "Big-Nut and Little-Nut" which made the story seem more intimate and special. Once the conflict grew more saturated, the pace picked up. Bloom used a tactic of speeding up time by using surprising events in nonchalant sentences such as, "Rose stopped taking her meds and the halfway house wouldn't keep her after she pitched another patient down the stairs" (75). Time flew by and the inevitable ending creeps up so softly and peacefully. The ending took me a minute to comprehend because Bloom took death and made a scene like a faded, dramatic scene from a movie where the sad music plays over the dialogue and it fades to black. That's what I pictured and Bloom definitely wanted the reader to feel the tension of her death throughout the entire story so once we made it there, the death would be less painful to bear. 

And just like their names, Violet and Rose, the story went out with a beautiful image and a sweet smelling message, like flowers surrounding a death, celebrating the afterlife at a funeral.