A thing that I always found interesting with the Reacher characters is its relationship with the author: they are the same height! His description of being taller than others and how it shapes your experience is based on his life.
I feel like Reacher is for Child a sort of Mary sue of himself: the male fantasy that develop from modern life constrictions.
Such a beautiful piece, Patrick. I so relate to the howling, unmoored post-breakup place you describe, and being shocked by it while trying to make sense of it (which you do so beautifully in this and your New Girl piece) - though at the same time, your description of feeling the pressure to be stoic and masculine is so different. Thank god you also have other models of being a person in the world, and know on some level you have permission to feel, even if at a deeper level you feel constricted. Keep on writing it out. You’re awesome, and you’re creating some beautiful and really interesting writing as you process things. x
Extremely relatable stuff - being unflappable is great, but everybody's gotta flap (be flapped?) sometimes! If it helps, I'll be crouching slightly next time we meet.
I came here for the meditation on Reacher’s refrigerator size and left nodding my head when you described feeling unmoored by life events! As someone who also feels generally capable and ok with solitude, I’ve had things like that that just shake me to my core. If only I had pectorals that could function as satellite dishes like Reacher… Thanks for writing this!
A thing that I always found interesting with the Reacher characters is its relationship with the author: they are the same height! His description of being taller than others and how it shapes your experience is based on his life.
I feel like Reacher is for Child a sort of Mary sue of himself: the male fantasy that develop from modern life constrictions.
that is FASCINATING. I had no idea, and brings such an interesting angle to the whole character lol.
Honestly watch one of his interviews, Reacher is his fantasy version of himself.
Such a beautiful piece, Patrick. I so relate to the howling, unmoored post-breakup place you describe, and being shocked by it while trying to make sense of it (which you do so beautifully in this and your New Girl piece) - though at the same time, your description of feeling the pressure to be stoic and masculine is so different. Thank god you also have other models of being a person in the world, and know on some level you have permission to feel, even if at a deeper level you feel constricted. Keep on writing it out. You’re awesome, and you’re creating some beautiful and really interesting writing as you process things. x
thank you, Jo! And yeah, it's such a blessing to be able to sort through everything through writing, it really clarifies things for me.
Extremely relatable stuff - being unflappable is great, but everybody's gotta flap (be flapped?) sometimes! If it helps, I'll be crouching slightly next time we meet.
great i'd appreciate that!
I came here for the meditation on Reacher’s refrigerator size and left nodding my head when you described feeling unmoored by life events! As someone who also feels generally capable and ok with solitude, I’ve had things like that that just shake me to my core. If only I had pectorals that could function as satellite dishes like Reacher… Thanks for writing this!
Honestly I thought this was about John Krasinski and I was like "is he even that tall" turns out he plays someone called Jaxk RYAN