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crack_van2004-11-30 09:55 pm
justacat.livejournal.com) wrote in crack_van2004-11-30 09:55 pm
Entry tags:
Never Let Me Down, by Shoshanna (NC-17)
Fandom: THE PROFESSIONALS
Pairing: Bodie/Doyle
Author on LJ:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
the_shoshanna
Author Website: http://www.thisland.ca/
Why this must be read:
So this is it. I've greatly enjoyed the chance to revisit, and share, some of my favorite Pros fic. As my swan song I'm reccing what may be my very favorite Pros story of all. And I'm going to indulge myself by permitting myself a longer rec than usual, but I'll put it behind a cut ...
Never Let Me Down is a long, relationship-driven, CI5-universe fic - my absolute favorite kind of Pros story. Interwoven throughout are details and events from their work, but the focus of the story is entirely on the gradual evolution of Bodie and Doyle's relationship. And I do mean gradual - this is a story in which the relationship issues aren't immediately or handily resolved. Instead the relationship progresses haltingly, incrementally; it stutters, two steps forward one step back, as they deal with new experiences, both physical and emotional, and face and attempt to overcome the various hurdles that arise. It's both painful and hopeful, and so realistic.
The biggest hurdle is Bodie's difficulty coming to terms with his attraction to men, and the author's depiction of this is one of the things I like best about the story. Roused unwillingly from obliviousness to the truth of his own nature, Bodie finds himself faced with an unwelcome self-realization. He reacts first with misdirected anger and then attempts denial, but he is fundamentally honest with himself, and ultimately he can't - won't - ignore what's at the bottom of all this: the reality of his feelings for and attraction to Ray. So Bodie struggles with his identity, with his fear of how others might view him, with the idea and reality of sex with another man, with the displacement caused by such a rapid change in his self image.
These struggles ring very true to me, accurately reflect how I think the character might react and behave, and they are sensitively, movingly, and beautifully handled. Some of Bodie's feelings aren't very admirable, but he never becomes a caricature, he's never portrayed as one-dimensional, and I never stopped liking him and feeling for him - a testament to the author's skill and understanding of the characters. Shoshanna always lets us - if not Ray - see through Bodie's outward behavior to the very real pain and confusion and fear he's feeling; we never lose sight of his fundamental decency, and we can see how deeply he cares for Ray. Bodie's "gayness" clearly extends beyond Ray, but you get the sense that he'd live pretty happily in denial if Ray didn't mean so much to him; his struggle is in a sense a testament to the strength of those feelings.
Bodie's coming to terms with himself, adapting to a new way of thinking about himself, is a gradual process, though never ponderous or boring, and one of the things that makes this story compelling for me is its measured pacing. The author lets it all unfold in its own good time; it's a journey, and the author gives due weight to each step. This gives the story a particularly realistic feel. It also gives us a chance to really "get to know" the characters, to understand them and become attached to them as they move slowly toward togetherness. And the characterization and voices are excellent. The story is written tightly from Bodie's point of view, but the author quite effectively gives us insight through Bodie into what's going on with Ray. The insights aren't Bodie's, but we can make our own interpretations of Bodie's perceptions; this is what makes third person limited so powerful when done well, as it is here. Of course there were times I wished for more knowledge of what was going on in Ray's head - that's inevitable when the POV is limited to one character, I think - but this would have required that the author write another fic; switching between the viewpoints in a single story would, I think, have significantly diluted its impact.
As it is, the story, for all its measured pace, is exceptionally powerful and memorable. And - quite importantly for me! - the author manages to craft a wonderful, incredibly satisfying ending without compromising the realism. It's not a utopic ending - you know it's still going to be difficult for them; all the problems aren't resolved. But it's got an incredible sweetness, and you also just know that they're going to be together in this, together through it all. I like that feeling - that there's much more to come, but a fundamental barrier has been surmounted, so the outcome is inevitable - they're going to make it now.
And there's something incredibly sappy-smile-inducing about seeing these hard, tough guys fumble with tenderness and accept with somewhat bewildered and hesitant joy the spectre of real love.
So: we have a long, relationship-driven novel, exceptionally skillful and controlled writing, appealing, authentic characterization, very good smut, a little angst, a happy ending, all in just about perfect proportions. That right there is a recipe for my ideal slash story - and Never Let Me Down has a permanent place of honor on my bedside table.
Never Let Me Down
....And thanks for coming along with me on the ride :-)
Pairing: Bodie/Doyle
Author on LJ:
the_shoshannaAuthor Website: http://www.thisland.ca/
Why this must be read:
So this is it. I've greatly enjoyed the chance to revisit, and share, some of my favorite Pros fic. As my swan song I'm reccing what may be my very favorite Pros story of all. And I'm going to indulge myself by permitting myself a longer rec than usual, but I'll put it behind a cut ...
Never Let Me Down is a long, relationship-driven, CI5-universe fic - my absolute favorite kind of Pros story. Interwoven throughout are details and events from their work, but the focus of the story is entirely on the gradual evolution of Bodie and Doyle's relationship. And I do mean gradual - this is a story in which the relationship issues aren't immediately or handily resolved. Instead the relationship progresses haltingly, incrementally; it stutters, two steps forward one step back, as they deal with new experiences, both physical and emotional, and face and attempt to overcome the various hurdles that arise. It's both painful and hopeful, and so realistic.
The biggest hurdle is Bodie's difficulty coming to terms with his attraction to men, and the author's depiction of this is one of the things I like best about the story. Roused unwillingly from obliviousness to the truth of his own nature, Bodie finds himself faced with an unwelcome self-realization. He reacts first with misdirected anger and then attempts denial, but he is fundamentally honest with himself, and ultimately he can't - won't - ignore what's at the bottom of all this: the reality of his feelings for and attraction to Ray. So Bodie struggles with his identity, with his fear of how others might view him, with the idea and reality of sex with another man, with the displacement caused by such a rapid change in his self image.
These struggles ring very true to me, accurately reflect how I think the character might react and behave, and they are sensitively, movingly, and beautifully handled. Some of Bodie's feelings aren't very admirable, but he never becomes a caricature, he's never portrayed as one-dimensional, and I never stopped liking him and feeling for him - a testament to the author's skill and understanding of the characters. Shoshanna always lets us - if not Ray - see through Bodie's outward behavior to the very real pain and confusion and fear he's feeling; we never lose sight of his fundamental decency, and we can see how deeply he cares for Ray. Bodie's "gayness" clearly extends beyond Ray, but you get the sense that he'd live pretty happily in denial if Ray didn't mean so much to him; his struggle is in a sense a testament to the strength of those feelings.
Bodie's coming to terms with himself, adapting to a new way of thinking about himself, is a gradual process, though never ponderous or boring, and one of the things that makes this story compelling for me is its measured pacing. The author lets it all unfold in its own good time; it's a journey, and the author gives due weight to each step. This gives the story a particularly realistic feel. It also gives us a chance to really "get to know" the characters, to understand them and become attached to them as they move slowly toward togetherness. And the characterization and voices are excellent. The story is written tightly from Bodie's point of view, but the author quite effectively gives us insight through Bodie into what's going on with Ray. The insights aren't Bodie's, but we can make our own interpretations of Bodie's perceptions; this is what makes third person limited so powerful when done well, as it is here. Of course there were times I wished for more knowledge of what was going on in Ray's head - that's inevitable when the POV is limited to one character, I think - but this would have required that the author write another fic; switching between the viewpoints in a single story would, I think, have significantly diluted its impact.
As it is, the story, for all its measured pace, is exceptionally powerful and memorable. And - quite importantly for me! - the author manages to craft a wonderful, incredibly satisfying ending without compromising the realism. It's not a utopic ending - you know it's still going to be difficult for them; all the problems aren't resolved. But it's got an incredible sweetness, and you also just know that they're going to be together in this, together through it all. I like that feeling - that there's much more to come, but a fundamental barrier has been surmounted, so the outcome is inevitable - they're going to make it now.
And there's something incredibly sappy-smile-inducing about seeing these hard, tough guys fumble with tenderness and accept with somewhat bewildered and hesitant joy the spectre of real love.
So: we have a long, relationship-driven novel, exceptionally skillful and controlled writing, appealing, authentic characterization, very good smut, a little angst, a happy ending, all in just about perfect proportions. That right there is a recipe for my ideal slash story - and Never Let Me Down has a permanent place of honor on my bedside table.
Never Let Me Down
....And thanks for coming along with me on the ride :-)
no subject
Thanks for all the recs!
no subject
And yes, I totally agree about Bodie - I could sympathize with his desire to know. It was harder for me to understand why Ray was so unforthcoming - his explanation at the end didn't seem like quite enough. In fact, my only real issue with this story is that sometimes Ray was a little too opaque, even for a story written in tight third; I wished sometimes for a bit more material (Bodie's perceptions, of course) from which to attempt to interpret and extrapolate the reasons for some of Ray's actions.
For example, one thing that left me feeling a bit skeptical was in the final scene - how Ray, who was apparently experienced in being in that position sexually, hadn't attempted to evoke those responses from Bodie earlier; how he was so surprised at the end to learn that Bodie liked it, as if he didn't realize blokes sometimes do. You'd think he would have known that and would have attempted earlier to see if Bodie would react that way.
On the other hand, though people have sometimes complained about it, I had no trouble at all believing that Bodie would "forget" the impact his behavior in that last scene would have on Ray, how Ray would figure out from what Bodie was doing that something must have happened. I could see Bodie being so overwhelmed by all this new stuff and these rapid changes that he would just ... forget.
(I'm trying to talk about this without giving too much away, in case someone who hasn't read it takes a look at these comments - hope I'm not being too cryptic!)
Anyway, again I'm glad you liked it, and thanks so much for all your comments - very interesting and thought-provoking!
no subject
I guess that was sort of in juxtaposition to Bodie's reaction to Ray liking to have nipples chewed on (ouch!) But, yeah, it's hard to imagine Ray had never been with a man who didn't like it.
On the other hand, though people have sometimes complained about it, I had no trouble at all believing that Bodie would "forget" the impact his behavior in that last scene would have on Ray, how Ray would figure out from what Bodie was doing that something must have happened. I could see Bodie being so overwhelmed by all this new stuff and these rapid changes that he would just ... forget.
I can easily see that. He's like a kid with a new toy who's eager to share it with his best friend.
no subject
I was just a little surprised by the abruptness of the first move from Doyle, who tries to kiss his partner without warning;I know there must be a case to set the misunderstanding necessary to the plot, but it's a little hard to believe; I would have expected some ambiguities in the previous scenes, that could have somehow coloured the mood in sexual or at least sentimental shades. And Bodie's reactions seems to me really excessive, not in his inner feelings (he may be deeply shocked) but in their outward expressions; Afterall, if I understood well, he was a soldier and homosexuality is not uncommon in the military world! In fact I would better see the roles reversed...But I have still to get throughout the story.
no subject
*reinserts heroin needle*
no subject
And I tried to change all the links in every post I've ever made that I could remember (believe me, I want to lead everyone down the path to Pros... *g* - I changed all the links in the Manifesto, for example...) - especially these. However, for some reason, despite the fact that this is a community and I am the author of these posts (of course I can't change the links on other Pros reccers' posts), I am not being permitted to edit the
So I can't change the links - which is incredibly frustrating. I'm sorry about that!
no subject