peter rietbergen

An interesting comparison, but for the boy/boy instead of the boy)girl situation. And of course S did without any reference to sex...

I assume marital means martial...🙂

When the older A entered the Philharmonic's grand Hall I felt like screaming: no, no, no. Luckily, something happened in the lines following that moment. And I can now forgive the author- for just as authors must, sometimes, forgive themselves for the lines they've written, it is a reader's privilege to forgive him if, in the end, those lines yet deliver their promise.

Obviously, I'll now never be able to listen to Clair de Lune or Gaspard de la Nuit anymore without thinking of this tale. Admittedly, I don't know whether that's a good thing, but since there is, I feel, no such thing as absolute music, music that doesn't conjure up images, scenes, stories, I accept that this one in a strange way, will be that.

Since - realistically...- there is little chance the two young man will be able to bridge the many differences between them, the author has set himself quite a challenge...But this is, of course, a fantasy, and in fantasies much can happen...

I found the emotional interaction between J and the people in the bar really moving. As to the rain scene: it shows that a few lines can be both unabashedly sentimental in an almost Hollywood-filmic way and yet entirely convincing. Which is saying something....

Precisely because here we have an author as gifted as N I feel I must be honest. In this chapter we did need the first part, the session with the psychotherapist. And of course we did need - expect, really- the last part, where Mark appears out of the sea, as if reborn. As, obviously, both he and J are. But I do have my doubts about the intermediate part, with the journalist. Since J has been refusing interviews for so long, there seems no reason why he should, essentially, give one now. The journalist'd questions are 't particularly perspicacious. It seems the section purports to move the story forward - while it doesn't need that. Moreover, it also seems to explain what the newest composition is about. But precisely a composer as gifted as J would, I think, never feel the need to explain a piece - certainly not one as essential to him as this - to the world-wide audience that's now getting to read the "back tale", if only because it is a horrible as it is. In short, I feel this is out of character and does, in a way, mar our understanding of J as a person and a composer.

As one who once hesitated between a career as a musician and an academic, I find the first part of this chapter deeply moving. I don't know the body of literature about the psychology of performing, but this might well become part of it, if only because it shows how, ideally, a musician will move beyond the performance. As to the nine years that elapsed: I think the author has given us everything we needed to knoe about what happened that night, at least as far as J's parents are concerned. As to the man in the bed. Well, be it who he is - I do not necessarily crave a happy end - we yet need to know what happened to Marc, since he was a 'failed gilded thing', too, and, in many ways, more hurt than Julian.

Heart-wrenching. I must admit I now hope this story does not go on for many more chapters. Somehow that won't "work" - for me at least. But the author will decide.

Agreed. But assumedly Mark will have to learn as much as J, or even more, to escape from the cage his parents have build for and around him - as did, obviously, Julian's parents. Both face essentially, the process of growing up into responsible adulthood.

I beg to disagree. Only Mark, with Julian's help, van end this terrible form of emotional/physical bkackmail.

So now we see where M comes from. Supposedly, we also see where the solution, the end is. That is If J does see it.

I do think the pair of you- for I include AI - have done a very good job

Magnificently narrated. Whether I am really convinced that there are hints of this in the previous chapters - as there should be, should have been...- I do not know. Whether the destruction this episode brengst van be turned into something deeper, newer with M and J is a question the author will have to solve - in a convincing way...A hard task.

This was, in a quiet way, a major moment. Not (only) physically, but emotionally.

There are a number of issues, themes here. I feel outing someone is, always, wrong. The problem of being gay was, and for many still is, too complex and no one has really any business with it but the person himself. Trying to help someone to deal with it, in friendship, is another thing altogether. Consequently: no, I do not feel Neil is childish or whatever else readers may say about him. He simply is afraid, of many aspects of his personal and social zelf, and has every right to be so. But yes, if A is serious about taking some 'responsibility' for the ensuing situation, a meeting is the only courageous and potentially effective action.

For all of us who, in some way, try to create, a mentor - perhaps like A - is indeed priceless: a person to listen to, to spar with, to learn from and, in the end, to remember - pace Rossetti - both with a smile and with some sadness. ssetti's smile as well as

At least we know one thing: it was NOT Julian. That doesn't fit the format of V's stories.

As "cute" as always, but yet: I find Neil's transition from straight to cock-sucking - however inevitable in this story -: far too sudden. There is, really, no in-between fase, either in words or in slow acceptance and subsequent action. Or did I miss something!

Since I always hugely enjoy RH's stories, this one doesn't disappoint, either. But I feel that Neil's question is surprisingly sudden, not to say out of the blue...

And your own thoughts on a re-gendered W would make a smashing (chamber) opera. As to The Joys of... Why not: The Pleasures of... Depending, of course, on the amount of sensuality in the song texts. But other titles come to mind. The Dreams of Young Werther...?

But why did Robert say he (now) believed he wasn't even Julian's father if Julian always knew he wasn't Robert's son?

Simply huge fun. Love it.

I can see "the point" of this tale, the change from boy to - well, something older, more mature. But do I believe that a boy would actually accept the steps he was asked to take?

Great Expectations indeed. But whose, in this present-day tale...?