Chopper by Lee Alon

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Chopper by Lee Alon

Post by kailhofer »

I've read and re-read this story and I'm simply stumped on a few points. <br><br>This "vacation" gone wrong (or maybe gone right) carried me along well, and the writing was done with professionalism, but confused the heck out of me in the end. I couldn't tell if the rotorless chopper was really a reference to something else, ala lit. fiction, or more like a Twilight Zone thing, where there's a chopper that takes you on a vacation you don't expect.<br><br>Usually, a rotorless chopper mean somebody's going to be cleaned up with a sponge from the wreckage. It is the future, and maybe choppers are just a generic name for transports, like we still "tape" things on our digital video recorders. But then again, it was the title, and that suggests it should have more weight.<br><br>Then there's the ghost aspect. Are they all dead, dreaming, a video game...? Or does ghost mean something else? <br><br>On setting, I would have liked some more details, especially of the battle zone, and more of the senses brought in to make it more concrete for me.<br><br>In terms of character, I liked how Lenny grew as the vacation progressed. He loosened up a lot, and really began to live. The mom is a little flat, but I find myself wondering if she was really there with the ghost reference. She may have been a purposeful shadow of her former self--a creation of Lenny's mind that put her in support of him, as she had always been. <br><br>If Lenny's conflict is that he needs a vacation, he succeeds admirably. If it is that his mom needs one, he may not have resolved that need well. She does seem happy in the spectator's lounge, but it hardly seems like a vacation (unless it's from Lenny).<br><br>I liked the dialogue, especially when Minerva calls for strength at Lenny's choice of weapon. Likewise, the unique choices of names, like Rubber Bag.<br><br>One phrase, "a heedless sack of onions" struck me odd. <br><br><br>In summary, enjoyable but I couldn't put two and two together over it. (Feel free to spoon feed it to me, Lee.)<br><br>Nate
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