The Write Angels

Of the features we've been asked to read, I really enjoyed Paige Williams's "You've Got Thousands of Angels Around You." It touched me emotinally--as I'm sure it did many of my classmates--but more than that, I was struck by how personal Williams voice was. There were many moments throughout the piece that I stopped myself to remember I was reading a nonfiction feature by a journalist rather than prose constructed by an artful author. The first time I physically stopped for these thoughts to cross my mind was on page 163 when Wililams is describing the asylum lawyer Sue Colussy:

And she wasn't even Catholic. She wasn't even particularly-what was the term? Warm and fuzzy. But so what? Just because she wasn't the type to sit you down and hand you a lollipop didn't mean Sue Colussy wasn't your truest ally or your best hope.

I also liked how Williams included lots of dialogue so that the reader was able to feel as though she personally knew the people in the story, and thus these people--who were really participants in a feature--became characters of her prose.

Williams also employs creative narrative styles. For instance, there are two examples on page 171:

Okay. One word and everything changed.
     Let's do this.
     Okay.
     Or was it more than one word?
     Look, I've got this kid . . .
     Reid, you speak French, don't you?
     Let's do this.
     Okay.

And also:

Here is your room, here is your bathroom, here is your closet.

Williams writes as though she is just regurgiating the voiceover of Cynthia's first tour through the house. Williams change in use of a narrative voice and first and third person is very effective and powerful in making the reader pay attention the story as well as feel involved.