Comments on: WHEN JANIE GETS HER BABY, Part II

By: Brianna C.

Brianna C. — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 08:38:18 +0000

Fantastic read. There are some sentences in here that are sublime, whether funny (I love the line, “If she’d ever set eyes on him she’d have left every cent to her neighbor’s parakeet,”) or chilling, like the last one. That last sentence is like a punch to an empty stomach. Love it.

By: Karyn

Karyn — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:43:54 +0000

These are all creepy characters, but interesting creeps. The dialogue is fast and funny. I haven’t read any good black humor in a while, so this was a richly decadent and obscene treat. At first, I was feeling very morally superior to the characters…until I realized that they are not so different after all. They are driven by destructive obsessions, sex, violence, anger, self-loathing…and money. Those who have the money are controlled by it, and those who don’t have it are even more controlled by it. Like the best black humor, you take on a lot of material—violence, capitalism, male-female relationships, and obsession. I could see this as a Tarantino film.

By: Azza

Azza — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 06:07:28 +0000

The last paragraph is so tense. Written beautifully and artistically.

The last line is probably my favorite of the entire story.

By: Naomi

Naomi — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:54:00 +0000

Although most of the characters’ dialogue is probably best kept behind closed doors, the shock of seeing it in writing turns this story into art. Both hilarious and truthful, this piece portrays the side of us we all have but are sometimes too ashamed to show, which is why we can’t help but hope that Janie gets her baby.

By: Ann

Ann — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:57:20 +0000

This is a very sad story. That last paragraph gave me chills it was so beautiful.

By: Hoyt

Hoyt — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:55:28 +0000

There’s a definite crescendo in Part II. The humor still lurks under the story but not the same as the first part. This second part made me feel ill in the gut, and not just the physical one. Frank is the character that I find most compelling. He’s a narrator that expresses the pain of being human we all feel in varying degrees but rarely have the courage to face. Frank brings us into this bitter, dark humorous circle of misfits and makes us see ourselves.

By: D.C.

D.C. — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 22:38:02 +0000

Some aspects of this story are shocking, others are simply daring. One doesn’t often come across fiction that deals with matters of religion, terrorism, human prejudice and stereotypes, traditional sexual roles and abortion, that also is laugh out loud funny. These characters are creepy yet they are also real and that is what makes them even creepier. Janie is a heartbreaking woman and it’s hard not to root for her though it’s also easy to see that she is so blinded in her quest for a child in order to “make sense of” her life that that quest will probably end in sadness and tragedy.