Feast of Souls by Catnip

[splix.livejournal.com]

Title: Feast of Souls

Author: Catnip

Rating: PG

Pairing: Q/O, of sorts

Warnings:







I feel a little stupid for even doing warnings
since the fic follows canon - ie, Qui-Gon is dead,
but: character death. Also, possible food squick. :)














Author's e-mail, web site and/or LJ id:
wcoomber@coppervalley.bc.ca

Link to story:
http://www.masterapprentice.org/archive/f/feastofsouls.html

Reasons for recommending: Most of my favorite Q/O
stories are quite long and plotty. This one's
neither, but it's found its way onto my hard drive
as one of my all-time favorites. It's a
beautifully written, succinct little fic about
grief and acceptance. It also cleverly explains
canonical events in the original trilogy that
don't quite match up with another event in TPM.

Caveat: Don't eat while reading.

Quote from story:

He listened, enchanted by the beauty of it, the
stark simplicity of that one pure note that
carried such longing and grief. He could sit here
forever and listen to it, meditate with it, let
his soul weep with it ...

Until the echoes returned, adding ugly, discordant
notes to the beautiful sound. The keening turned
into harsh, barking sobs, blaring to his ears, as
though they were coming from right next to him.

He felt the broad, callused palm of Qui-Gon's hand
resting on his forehead, as it had done a hundred
times in the past. It was warm and moist against
Obi-Wan's cold skin, still pulsing with life. It
soothed him and touched the places in his heart
and soul he thought had died and shrivelled.
Unconsciously, he leaned towards it.

Comments

[thalia]

How did I never read this? Eww, for one thing, but it's an interesting take on Jedi tradition.

[the-haunt.livejournal.com]

I remember how difficult it was to get through this the first time. I wanted to tear my gaze away and move on to something else, but I couldn't. The grief was so deep and poignant that I felt it through to my toes; I was mesmerized and I kept reading. And by the end I really felt like I'd been there with Obi-Wan, sharing in the pain. It was an intense purgation.

This story definitely isn't for the squeamish, but it's very powerful in its own right.

[maliwane.livejournal.com]

This was just as . . . . fascinating the second time around as it was the first. Good ol' Catnip! And yeah, sorta like a train wreck - you don't want to look, but you can't look away. LOL!

[gloriana.livejournal.com]

Do you know, either I missed this the first time round, or else I have erased it from my memory? I like the pushing of the envelope, and the questions of cultural relativity, but I somehow can't get myself into that mourning headspace...

[splix.livejournal.com]

Heh - I had almost the opposite reaction. The envelope-pushing didn't particularly strike me hard, but I mention it for the benefit of more sensitive readers. I attribute my lack of reaction to that bit of the story to my Catholic upbringing. This is my body, so chug it down...

What really got me was the emotion of the piece - Obi-Wan's containment, his distraction, and finally, the socially inappropriate response that opened the floodgates. That really resonated with me as a genuine moment of grief. I also liked that the Council members seemed to use Obi-Wan's reaction as a catalyst to release their own sadness - very nifty device there, and subtly done, I thought.

[gloriana.livejournal.com]

I attribute my lack of reaction to that bit of the story to my Catholic upbringing. This is my body, so chug it down...

Bangs head against keyboard...never made that connection! And me with the ex-Catholicism enough to have thoroughly enjoyed 'The Passion of the Christ'....

I was thinking more the cannibal elements: the idea of taking in and absorbing the strength and essence of the person with the flesh. So it wasn't gross-out for me either, but I did wonder why this would have been hidden from the initiates and thus be such a hard thing for Obi-Wan to get used to.

Catnip seems to me to be treading two tightropes. One is the modern v alien pov, in which Obi and also then Yoda are the intermediaries between the culture in the text and the culture of the average reader. (I expect there might be the odd anthropologist amongst us who's had to do worse in the name of research, but probably they are few in number :)) That worked pretty well for me, except I think Obi should have been a little bit more aware of the custom beforehand, even if still very ambivalent in his reaction to it.

The second is the tension between grief and humour, between taking the story seriously, or more tongue-in-cheek - and I don't think there is a right way or a wrong way, but rather she's using that balancing point to keep the story taut. Unfortunately, I think I fell off the tightrope too early, so I really didn't get into the grief/relief part of it as I would have had to for it to really work for me :(

[(Anonymous)]

Thank you very much to all of you.

Didn't know if it was kosher to leave a message in the midst of this discussion, but it seems to be dying down now, so...

Alex, you are sooo wonderful. I can't believe that you rec'ed that story, but THANK YOU so much! You're crazy and you're wonderful and I love you so much!!!

Gloriana, thank you for the criticism. You read much more into the story than I thought I wrote into it, but I so much appreciate your views on it. I really should rewrite it, but truthfully I can barely stand to reread my writing in whatever genre I write in.

Alex, have I told you lately that I love you? You gave me my first ever OH MY GOD! moment when I found your rec to my story yesterday. Made me grin all day, which is so nice. Thank you so very much. Your faith makes me keep thinking that I can eventually write fics that are cohesive and worth reading. I learn a little bit more each time you folks give me feedback.

Thank you all of you,

Catnip

[splix.livejournal.com]

I'm ALWAYS happy to rec the good stuff! I'm so glad it brought you pleasure. :) And believe me, it's both cohesive and well worth reading!

Thanks for responding, Catnip! :D