Fic Rec: After-wise

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Title: After-wise
Author: cathedral_carver
Pairing: Sherlock Holmes/John Watson
Length: 4958
Rating: Teen and up
Warnings: N/A
Verse: Sherlock BBC

Author's summary: My name is John Hamish Watson and I am 74 years old and I must wear clean pants every day. No exceptions.

Reccer's comments: I would imagine this fic is going to be recced everywhere. It’s a brilliant piece.

John and Sherlock have grown older together as a couple but now John has developed dementia. It’s heartbreaking - John and Sherlock have lost their shared past and their shared future and are both stuck in a permanent present in which they have to live apart. Yet this is a story you’ll want to come back to and read over and over again.

The author is, of course, a subtle and skilful writer, and has made astute choices as to how the piece is structured. We are presented with the situation as a reality from the beginning - we know John isn’t miraculously going to get better. And we haven’t had to watch his change from the John we knew to the John he is now, as poor Sherlock had to do. Also, the story is told from alternating viewpoints: John’s and Sherlock’s. We see Sherlock’s fear, guilt, loneliness and desperate hope. But we also see his strength, his love and his selflessness - his life revolves around John. With John, we see his resentment and boredom, his sense of isolation, his fear, anger and confusion but we also see some moments of peace and happiness. And because we get to see his point of view, we don’t simply pity him and mourn what he’s lost; we empathise with him and learn to accept him as he is now. As I think Sherlock eventually does.

The author has made the story bearable to read. There is even the occasional touch of rueful humour. And though there can’t be a happy ending the author is kind to us, and to her characters, and chooses as a stopping point what is a bitter-sweet moment for Sherlock, but is for John a moment of undiluted love and joy.

Comments

[bk7brokemybrain.livejournal.com]

I've read this multiple times in the last couple of days. Really remarkable writing. I've recced it to non-fandom friends who have experience with the subject matter. This is what love is. I'm so proud of Sherlock in this story.

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Although there's nothing positive about dementia and this situation, we do see the very best of Sherlock in this story. It's a wonderful, wonderful piece of literature.

[rachelindeed.livejournal.com]

A striking story, beautifully recc'd. I especially like what you said about how, by giving us scenes from John's point of view as well as Sherlock's, the story is able to push us past pity and into empathy with the man John is now. Sherlock's love for John is so real, and we know that John deserves it and will always deserve it. A large part of the tragedy is that Sherlock deserves John's love as well, but John is only able to share that in fleeting moments of recognition. I'm so glad that the story ended in such a moment, with both of them knowing that love.

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

I read the story first during Holmestice and I kept coming back to it, thinking I ought to leave a comment but I couldn't really articulate how I felt about it.

I thought that was such a good choice for the story - seeing half of it through John's eyes. And Sherlock's love for John is so moving - he's not visiting John out of duty, because of the man John used to be. He needs John, even now.

I so admire the truthfulness of the story - there's nothing trite about it. Love doesn't conquer all. All those happy years together don't make up for the situation now. But I was so grateful for the ending - that just for a short period John revisits how he used to feel about Sherlock all the time, and he's blissfully happy.

[cathedralcarver.livejournal.com]

Thank you so very much for the kind, heartfelt and beautifully written review. I honestly had no idea how readers would react to this story. I did not set out to write a fanfic about dementia, but because my family has been entrenched in the battle with my Nana for the past five years, I guess it demanded to be told, one way or another. Your description of the story brought me to tears, so thank you <3

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a comment on my post. And thank you for writing such a wonderful story. I so admire the fact that you took a subject that is so personal to you, and you were then able to take a step back and write about it in this way. It's a beautiful piece.