Review for Rough: some scenes from the life of Ms. Phyllis Gabor

Rough: some scenes from the life of Ms. Phyllis Gabor

(#) Stormkpr 2005-08-26

There is so much to love with this fic. The beautiful way the sentences are constructed, the hints they give away (Pizzazz's mother reeking of machine oil...we later learn why).

The potent, vivid images (Harvey getting mad, "the way his eyes distend like those of a frog in a cartoon", Pizzazz's mother, "patchouli perfume and floating scarves and wild laughter like Phyllis' own", "Roxy's lips, painted sticky tangerine even while her bikini top is falling off her shoulders, straps dangling in the hot water while her shoulders and the top of her breasts rise slick and wet.") I can visualize it all so well because you bring it to life. The images of Pizzazz and Roxy in the final scene are particularly stunning. Wow.

The utterly believable telling of how the Misfits first got together. ("A spark of comradeship, or fate. It's supposed to be these three up here, she knows it.") Simply perfect.

The way you so convincingly get us inside Pizzazz's head. You know this woman inside and out and help us to do the same.

And the plot! My god, I love Pizzazz/Roxy and this is so compelling, so believable. You pick such important moments from Pizzazz's life....the day her mother leaves, when she forms the Misfits, when she drops the Best New Group trophy. Pizzazz's first erotic encounter with Roxy and how she's snapped away by memories of what happened with her mother. And finally Jetta's arrival. You use each of them to highlight how she feels, where she is at emotionally, and where she and Roxy are at in their relationship. It steadily progresses towards tenderness and something like love, and it comes full circle with Pizzazz's final reminiscing of her mother's whereabouts.

I could go on and on here but I will only express my awe and adoration and gratitude. Thank you Kanna.