Dear Bear, I love when conversations in media completely capture me
I just finished the story of John Paul Wiggen.
John Paul and Theresa's conversation to end the story might be my favorite conversation I've ever experienced. It was mesmerizing. I've experienced a few conversations like that in my life but it's been a long time. The only times I've felt like that were during the first real conversation that I had with future girlfriends. I can vividly remember one in the bookstore downtown when I was in 7th or 8th grade. It was the first date I had ever really been on. The whole time we sat in a hidden corner of the bookstore and talked for hours. She gave me a book that became my favorite book for a long time. I loved talking with her, we would stay up for hours texting. Every time it was the same type of exchange with fractions of seconds between messages. The most recent time (more than three years ago) was with a girl I met online. There was this game we played that had a very close community. Once you got good enough at the game, you knew everyone and everyone knew you. The first time I saw her was in a quick match or a team scrimmage or something like that. We added each other on Discord and started playing together frequently. We could never run out of things to talk about. I miss it.
I now know that what I thought was all one story was actually two The Polish Boy, and Teacher's Pest. Teacher's Pest is already a classic for me, I will read this story many times over the years to come. It's exactly what I love in a story right now.
I wish I had someone to talk to about it. In order to have the conversation that I'm imagining, the other person would have to meet a few prerequisites;
- Read Ender's game (preferably all of the sequels that I've read too)
- Be a young hopeless romantic too
- Enjoy that style of storytelling and theme
I don't know anyone like that. I don't know anyone that even meets one of those criteria.
I've had this feeling before. The strongest I've felt like I wanted to talk to someone about a story that I loved like this was the first time I started the Before Trilogy. Someone recommended Before Sunset to me. I watched it, loved it, and started recommending it to other friends hastily. Less than half and hour later I discovered that it was a trilogy and I had started with the second one. It ruined the night for me. I
I didn't take long to watch the whole series in the correct order, I think I did it that same week. I loved it. It was(is?) my favorite trilogy. The unfortunate part is I don't know anyone that had watched it. I have one friend watch it but she doesn't share my enthusiasm for it. I'm not even sure that she watched all three.
I meant this to be about how I loved Teacher's Pest and how I wish I had someone to talk about it with. I guess the most natural transition from that was to talk about similar experiences in my life. Now I'm just sad and feeling even more hopelessly romantic than normal.
Teacher's Pest is a great little read. If you've read Ender's game first, amazing. If you've read the Shadow saga first, even better. If you've already read everything in the Enderverse, I'd love to talk with you. But no spoilers please.
Sincerely, NPC