Mercy, Unbound (Kim Antieau)

I just finished reading the last of the trio I bought about two weeks ago. Mercy, Unbound is cool. I came to realize that teen fics are more than just okay. They do actually make sense, unlike those adult fics I can barely try to get myself interested into. I thought this one is just a plain story of a youngster desperately wanting or trying to be an angel. But when I restarted reading it (I actually began reading it last week, but I wasn’t ready yet so I had to withdraw) and then finally finish it after two hours, it’s more than just a story of a young girl. She knows a lot of good stuffs. I especially liked Nancy’s character, her mom. She influenced her child a lot, especially the way she thinks and the way she perceives the world. The novel has brought up issues on religion (I saved a quote on cellphone), gender (particularly, feminism), culture (especially), and life. Reading teen fics has become a favorite of mine since I read The Catcher in the Rye, my all-time favorite. And I noticed, almost all the characters went through psychological dilemmas, but then again I would always end up agreeing with their point. They are aware of what is happening in the world, of what has life turned into, and everything bullshit and crappy on culture, society, and especially on values of man. They have a unified voice and reading them makes me realize everything with conviction. Mercy became neurotic with the harsh reality presented to her by the media, i.e. television. She felt responsible to save the world because she knows what’s wrong. But the thing is she cannot do something because she’s just a girl of thirteen, barely in high school, knew nothing but to love and be loved. She doesn’t know what to do. Her grandpa died leaving her his last wish of looking after her grandmother and mom. She felt guilty because she hasn’t done anything yet. Peter, her brother, died even before he was born, and she was so sorry for that. Her mom has asthma and she occasionally suffers from breathing difficulty. All these things burden her and she feels responsible for being part of the family’s ill-fate. She was determined to make a change in the world, improve life, and help whoever is in need. An angel doesn’t eat. An angel can make a difference. An angel after all, is more than just a little girl. So she decided to become an angel. Just so she can fulfill her promise and her responsibility: her ability to respond. I didn’t in my wildest dreams imagine myself becoming an angel. But Mercy has the very same frustrated purpose as I do, ‘til now. We both have that strong feeling of being held responsible for other people’s life. But we cannot do anything because we do not know how to act. We’re clueless as to what should be done. After all, we’re just kids. And the world is so vast and there are a lot of adults living here. Perhaps to some, we could just be thought of as mere nosy teenagers. I feel a close attachment to this novel. It’s dear. I see a part of me again in this book. Just like in The Catcher in the Rye, where I almost saw the entire me, except Holden’s a he. The characters I read tend to grow up so fast. That’s what I liked about them. But that’s what I wouldn’t want for myself to happen. Growing up so fast to become an adult, then start acting and talking like an adult is one of the worst things in life. Adults are strange. I cannot understand them. They speak as though they have a different tongue. They act as though they are always right. They can never get wrong, because they would always tell us they have grown up from being confused teenagers. They are hard. They don’t know how to appreciate young ideas. Or do they? Some perhaps, but not all. I remember from The Concept of Man, Marx says “children should teach their parents.” If that’s the case, I think we’d have a cool world. Children learn so fast nowadays. I wouldn’t want to think that parents or adults in general, are being threatened by this phenomenon. It would be very selfish and humiliating of them if what I suspect is true.