Eric Mesa’s Reviews > One Night in Sixes (1) > Status Update

Because of the POV characters, some of whom are so obtuse in their thinking I find myself oscillating between understanding what's going on and not having a clue - or at least a clue as to the motivations of the characters and their scheming.

Now we get to the price of everyone's actions

Almost finally understand how the different tribes fit together and their various beliefs and how it all interacts.

So many cultures...so many names....losing track of the details. But still interested in where this goes. I thought it would be done by this point in the story.

More great phrasing:

Twoblood snorted, and triggered the fire-pistol to light the wick. “I wouldn’t have hired him, if I’d known he’d made a bride-gift of his balls.” Nevermind, anyway: Yes-Yes was lucky enough to have a family to go home to and a wife to lie beside him, and if he got as much satisfaction from her in the dark as Twoblood did from his service in the daytime, then it was a deal well struck.

...searching Fours’ ageless face and ... black eyes. “To whose benefit?”
Apparently, there was something of keen interest on the floor. “Oh – to yours, of course..." -> I love this writing - instead of "Fours started at the floor"

Awesome quote -> "Anyone not satisfied by this arrangement may direct his complaints to his god or his elder or the horse who ploughed his mother, as long as he does it out of my hearing."

I've got a better idea of what's going on, but still a little unsure of all the rules of this world.

Elim has a very, very bad night.

Poor, poor Elim. Continually dragged beyond his comfort zone...

Seems like the kind of story that could only be told well by a Texan. The Easterner who thinks he knows better. The farmhand who doesn't know how to articulate the things he knows which aren't book-smarts. The mulatto charactrs and the meaning of those characters to others. Very good job writing what you know, Ms Thompson.