Page 347

                                          
                                                            By Mory Keita

             I hate boring stuffs though I am a boring guy.

 Guess I should hate myself.

I got bored and picked up a book to read, 678 pages long, and well packed.

The story was typical, boy falling for girl. I like those stories.

The boy did everything boys do to get girls attention in romance novels.

You know how it rolls. It was a coup de foudre the first time they met.

Then on page 347, the girl died.

I closed the book and found the writer’s email.

I wrote to her,

“Dear Ms. J.

 I‘ve read part of your novel and thus far I have hated everything I liked about it. Your writing is lyrical, your plot is catchy but I could not get over page 347.

The death of the girl pained me a lot. The boy worked hard to get her love and finally when he got it, the girl died. I guess you tried to mimic somehow Romeo and Juliette but Shakespeare ‘Killed’ those two at the end of the play. You killed yours at the middle, right when the reader hopes pours like water from a fountain. I do not know why you killed the girl on page 347, maybe she will return to the boy in her ghostly form or reincarnate in another girl. That is all fine but I will never be able to finish your novel after the girl’s death on page 347.

 This is no criticism of your craft (you are actually the first author I have ever emailed) your story is good but you could have ‘killed’ the girl a bit later. You could have allowed the boys efforts to come to fruition.

Best regards,

               

                Mory ”

                Ms. J replied two days later (I did not think she would pay attention my email.)

                “

                Dear Mory,

               I am glad you sent me this interesting email. Thank you for reading my novel.

Your inability to read past page 347 tells me a lot about you.  Hypothetically speaking, if you were the boy you would have been stuck there after her death. Your problem is not the book it about your emotional state…

                J”

                I leaned from reading a book something that I may have never learned about myself. Till this day I haven’t been able to read past page 347.

Page 347