Response to "Aveux" by Taylor

            “Aveux” by Thomas Hardy is an emotionally charged story about a single father, Vince, and his struggle to raise his daughter Amelia to become a better person than he is. He considers himself a terrible person, yet he is unable or unwilling to break down and change, as he believes he must be strong to raise Amelia right. He is also inwardly torn apart by the guilt he feels over Amelia’s mother’s suicide. The story ends with his current romantic interest, Erica, shooting herself and framing the death on Vince. After the jury declares him not guilty, he promises to move with Amelia to Paris, and it is through her that he holds onto hope.

            Much like Taylor’s last story of the hotel manager, “Aveux” is driven by a selfish protagonist who realizes his own depravity yet continues to live in it. I fell for the protagonist; I thought he was complex and sincere and even hilarious, while at the same time being selfish and miserable. I think it’s remarkable how this characterizes human nature so exactly; and even if Vince is an exaggeration of this character, we can all sympathize with him. I laughed out loud when Erica asked Vince if he would leave her if not for the sex, and he replied, “You don’t even want to know the answer to that.” It’s always best to write about the stuff you know, and I think the legal aspect you have implemented in the story works really well and makes it even believable in addition to just heavy.

            There are some simple grammar errors that need fixing, particularly with capitalization (Shadow, the dog, should always be capitalized; church shouldn’t unless it’s the name of the church, etc.). A thorough read-through should fix those issues. I’d like to get a better idea about what was going on between Vince and Becca. It’s not clear whether she killed herself because of her religious hypocrisy or if she couldn’t stand being with Vince. Vince says he loved going home to his family after work, but clearly things were not well if Becca was so depressed and even having affairs to try to fill the void in her life. I think there are some very complex things going on in their relationship and would like to see those things explored.