‘Goodnight My Angel’
— Reneé Bibby
If you were to ask me, casually, say standing in the elevator, about what I was reading, I’m not sure I would mention Y. Marcos’ ‘Goodnight My Angel.’ Because, naturally, you would ask, what’s it about? And the few facts I could get out before we reached our floor wouldn’t be enough. The story sounds almost too heartbreaking: from the ruins of her family through the bomb-blast that is her mentally-disabled brother, a woman contemplates the two choices of aborting or exploding her own life with a mentally-disabled child. Perhaps I do mention Marcos’ story and I don’t let you off the elevator before saying that despite the stark darkness of the premise, Marcos crafts a narrator whose keen eye and level-headedness is so compelling I wanted the story to swell into a novel. Right at the moment it might become unbearable, Marcos finds tender moments of reprieve, and the rhythm of the dark swell and rising light adds up to a wonderful, painful and amazing portrait of real life. Then, after we’d parted ways in the hall to start our work days, I would get to my desk and send you a link to her story.