9 Comments
Jan 6, 2022Liked by River Selby (they/them)

I like this piece as a social commentary on our collective narcissism spurred on by social media. Thanks for sharing!

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Thanks so much for reading, Carmella!

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Jan 5, 2022Liked by River Selby (they/them)

I appreciated the highlighting the pitfalls of social media. The story left me wondering whether or not she would do it and sad when she did. I am not sure why I was surprised, but I was. Excellent piece.

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I was incredibly surprised by the ending. So glad to have you reading with me and thanks so much for commenting!

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Jan 5, 2022Liked by River Selby (they/them)

I really loved the way social media and likes paced the story and built it to an end. I was surprised by the ending -- I didn't know where we were going and it took a turn I wasn't expecting (despite the entire piece being about suicide). The author did an excellent job of bringing the reader into the question and ambivalence of whether or not it would happen. A great piece.

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Agree with all of this, Amy. The pacing of the story was incredible and so aligned with our lives, intertwined with social media. I had read the story before, but a couple years ago, and was so surprised at the ending!

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This one is brilliant. Felt way too familiar in places (I stopped reading to check my Twitter notifications). I physically recoiled at the ending!!

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Waaay too familiar! And me too! I had totally forgotten about the ending, and it surprised me even though I'd read the story a couple of years ago.

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I really enjoyed reading this! I laughed out loud at several moments and it definitely made me feel slightly embarrassed about my own use of social media. I liked the character of Jilly-she definitely rang true for me. The literary allusions added another level and I was so pleased to see the Tom and Huck reference as that episode had stayed with me for decades. I was sad about the cat (couldn’t he have escaped?) but I loved the ending. A lot of fun. Thank you for suggesting it.

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