Wooden Feathers by Ursula Vernon [no synopsis provided]
Wow. That is all I can say. Wow. I actually made up my top 5 favorite short fiction stories for the round up post of the year earlier this week but it seems I need to do some revision...
The story of Wooden Feathers focuses on the protagonist Sarah who works at a flea market making wooden carvings. The business isn't going all that great. Her carvings are the worst of the three wood carvers present. This negativity influences her whole thinking of herself. However Sarah does have one regular customer who comes in every week to by a new duck carving. Sarah has never known his name, until her friend Rauf mentions his name. It is Jep. Eventually Sarah's curiosity takes over and she confronts Jep with starting to ask question. Mainly because Rauf told her that Jep was once a famous woodcarver himself. Maybe Jep can help her become better. Well if only. Jep only confirms that Sarah's wood carvings aren't really up to par. Sarah asks some confronting questions about Jep's personal life and ends up being invited to Jep's home. Where a whole world is about to open for Sarah. Because. Magic. The moment that Sarah steps on the porch she makes a discovery... one that will change her view for ever.
I was utterly impressed by this story. The introduction to the story started off a bit slow and I did have to get into it. but once the bit with Jep started to take of and the magical discovery that Jep has been hiding came to light it readily changed my own perception. This discovery also changed the whole scope of the story, granted there was already an undercurrent of an emotional line, but with Jep's personal story it readily changed. Added to this was the growing relation between Sarah and Jep and how Sarah's view changed.
I am going to say it. Wooden Feathers is a modern day Pinocchio story. Just Amazing.
Be sure to read this story today
Comments
Post a Comment