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Concrete Angel

by Ashley (link)

Genre drama, angst
Pairings Taylor/OFC, Zac/OFC
Length 17 chapters and epilogue
Status Completed

There are only a handful of songs guaranteed to make me cry; one of them is a different song by the singer of one titled Concrete Angel, which I assume is the inspiration behind this story’s title. Given how much of a tear-jerker Ashley’s other story Avery was, I can only assume this one will be just as depressing.

Like Avery, this story uses something of an outsider point of view; rather than being in third person, though, Concrete Angel is seen mostly through Zac and Isaac’s eyes despite the story largely being about Taylor. Bits and pieces of the torture Taylor’s going through are revealed as Isaac and Zac discuss his problems. All these heavy topics — depression, suicide attempts, eating disorders — are easier for me to handle in those sort of small doses.

The biggest source of the story’s drama is only hinted at for several chapters, but I can pick up on the hints easily — a car accident that took the lives of Taylor’s wife and baby. It isn’t until chapter six that we see, both through Taylor’s eyes and Isabelle’s in a flashback, what actually happened.

I’m not a big fan of the journal interludes; it feels like a lazy form of storytelling to me. When the story already switches so smoothly from character to character, I don’t really see the point. Still, Taylor’s story affects his entire family. That’s really the whole point of Concrete Angel — how they all work to put Taylor back together.

I was definitely right about Concrete Angel being a depressing story, even though the song’s story doesn’t match the story’s plot. I’m never a fan of authors making allusions that don’t quite fit, so that annoys me. Bothersome too are those journal entries and the sometimes short chapters, but even those things take little away from the story’s overall impact.

Review by Bethany (website)